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Christ's Return in Glory, 

AND 

MILLENNIAL REIGN ON EARTH. 



Come then, and, added to thy many crowns, 

Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth, 

Thou who alone art worthy! It was thine 

By ancient covenant, ere Nature's birth; 

And thou hast made it thine by purchase since, 

And overpaid its value with thy blood. 

Thy saints proclaim thee King ; and in their hearts 

Thy title is engraven with a pen 

Dipp'd in the fountain of eternal love. 

Thy saints proclaim thee King ; and thy delay 

Gives courage to their foes, who, could they see 

The dawn of thy Last Advent, long desired, 

Would creep into the bowels of the hills, 

And flee for refuge to the falling rocks, 

Cowper's Task. 



Connected View 

OF SOME OF THE 

SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE 

OF THE 

Eeteemer's &$ttHn $monal Return, 

AND 

REIGN ON EARTH WITH HIS GLORIFIED SAINTS, 
DURING THE MILLENNIUM; 

ISRAEL'S RESTORATION TO PALESTINE; 

AND 

THE DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRISTIAN NATIONS : 

WITH 

Remarks on Various Authors who Oppose these Doctrines* 

~ /; * y:' j \ j 

" Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in 

the midst of Jerusalem If it be marvellous in the eyes of the rem- 

nant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine 
eyes, saith the Lord of hosts?" — Zech. viii. ^6. 

x> 

SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED. 

THE PROFITS OF THIS EDITION TO AID THE FUNDS OF THE LONDON 
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS, 



PAISLEY, 
PUBLISHED BY ALEX. GARDNER: 
SOLD BY M. OGLE, W. COLLINS, AND G. GALLIE, GLASGOW ; 
W. OLTPHANT, WHYTE & CO,, WAUGH & INNES, AND J. BOYD, 
EDINBURGH; D. HALLIDAY, DUMFRIES; W. M'COMB, BELFAST,' 
R. M. TIMS, DUBLIN; AND JAMES NISBET, LONDON. 

1830. 



PREFACE 

TO 

THE FIRST EDITION. 



The personal presence of the Redeemer on earth during 
the Millennium was the prevailing expectation of the early 
Christian Church. With the progress of error, however, 
this doctrine also became corrupted ; and, in consequence, 
was at length almost entirely discarded as unscriptural. 
Still it has been the hope of a few in all subsequent ages, 
although for many centuries the attention of the Church 
in general has not been directed to the subject. But as 
the time approaches when the orthodoxy of our creed must 
be decided by the event, the question of its divine authority 
assumes a new interest, and a more urgent call is addressed 
to us to examine the foundation on which our opinions rest. 
A stricter investigation of Scripture on the subject has com- 
pelled the author of the following pages to relinquish, as un- 
tenable, the sentiments he formerly entertained, and to 
rank himself among the number of those who are " look- 
ing for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of 

the Great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ," as an event 

A 




vi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 

speedily to be realized. And having, as he trusts, obtain- 
ed more correct ideas of the time and purpose of the Savi- 
our's Return, in the hope that it may of service to others, 
he has been induced to endeavour to present, in a regular 
and connected form, part of that chain of evidence which 
has brought full conviction to his own mind. 

Deeply important as the subject undoubtedly is, it has 
not, in modern times at least, obtained that consideration 
to which it is entitled ; and most of the Magazines and 
Reviews, even of a religious character, which have at all 
adverted to the late efforts for its revival, have made rid- 
icule their test of truth, and — often without the shadow 
of argument as their warrant — have poured upon its de- 
fenders unmeasured abuse. In palliation of the outrage, 
it is sometimes alleged to have been provoked by the tone 
of haughty superciliousness assumed by Millenarians. 
Truth does, indeed, often suffer from the indiscretions of 
her friends, but there can be little doubt that still more 
frequently are her interests injured by an implicit defer- 
ence to human authority, — the overpowering influence of 
which renders alike difficult and irksome any material de- 
viation from established maxims and opinions, The latter 
evil has perhaps operated most ban efully upon the interests 
of the doctrine in question, although not a few who have 
stood forward in its defence, have neither been overawed 
by that enslaving " fear of man" which " bringeth a snare/' 
nor provoked to bitterness by that rancorous hostility with 
which they have been assailed. The display by either 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. vii 

party of a spirit of wrathfulness towards those who differ 
in opinion, is unworthy of the cause of truth, and by alien- 
ating affection must tend to the confirmation of error, on 
whomsoever this is justly charged. 

In the following remarks, the author has stated with 
firmness his convictions, but it has been his sincere desire 
to avoid whatever has the appearance of dogmatism or 
arrogance — a spirit ill calculated to win converts to any 
truth, but which would be especially unbecoming in him 
on this interesting subject. The consciousness of his inca- 
pacity to treat aright so important a doctrine — the fact 
that in many of the past ages of the Church, as well as in 
the present day, the great proportion of pious, eminent, and 
faithful ministers of Christ, have been, and are opposed 
to the views he entertains and desires to advocate — and the 
remembrance that till recently he regarded these opinions 
as destitute of that sanction which alone can give them 
a claim upon our faith — all of these considerations present 
reasons why, in defending this doctrine, he should be wil- 
ling to give to others a reason of the hope that is in him 
with meekness and fear. 

As intimately connected with the doctrine of our Lord's 
advent, a selection of Scripture passages relative to the 
Restoration of Israel and their future glory has been pre- 
fixed : and for the same reason, and on account of our 
interest in them, some passages have also been appended, 
in proof of the judgments which shall precede that happy 

time. The whole subject is thus brought before the 

a2 



viii 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



reader, who will be better enabled to determine on its gen- 
eral bearing and mutual support. Conceiving this to be a 
subject which admits not of aid from the fancies of men, 
the author has confined himself exclusively to the Scrip- 
tural Evidence ; and reference is made to the passages 
produced, that the legitimacy of their application may be 
more easily ascertained. The design has been to submit 
a Commend of Proof, making Scripture its own interpreter, 
rather than to enter elaborately into the discussion of any 
one point. An opportunity is thus afforded of observing how 
fully the doctrine of Christ's premillennial advent, and all 
its concomitants, harmonizes with the manifold and varied 
statements of Revealed Truth. To some it might have 
added to the strength of the argument, to have presented 
extracts from the primitive Fathers. It were easy to prove 
that these doctrines were maintained by all orthodox Chris- 
tians during the first two centuries of the Church, and 
generally to a much later period ; although then, as now, 
difference of opinion existed relative to certain portions of 
Prophecy.* To have done justice, however, to this part of 

* A few extracts are given by Bishop Newton in his Dissertations 
on Prophecy, and, in an excellent Reply to various criticisms which 
appeared on the course of Lectures, delivered in Edinburgh, May 
1828, by the Rev. Edward Irving; together with a statement and 

defence of the scriptural doctrine of the second advent of Christ 

For a Vindication of the Primitive Fathers, see the remarks on 
Dr. Hamilton's work, in the appendix to a very candid and temper- 
ate letter to the editor of the Edinburgh Theological Magazine, by 
William Cuninghame, Esq. of Lainshaw, published in reply to a 
review of his former valuable critical pamphlet on this subject. 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. ix 

the inquiry would have occupied more space than was 
consistent with the present design. Besides, if the doctrines 
themselves have been proved to be Scriptural, any auxiliary 
to establish their claim upon our faith is unnecessary ; 
and if they had been found destitute of this foundation, 
extrinsic aid must have proved inefficient for their support. 

The substance of part of the following sheets was writ- 
ten in the summer of 1 828, during the author's residence 
in Edinburgh, as a reply to the first of a series of articles 
which at that time appeared in the Christian Instructor ; 
but the communication not having been acknowledged, he 
conceived that it might be useful to re-arrange, correct, 
and enlarge it for separate publication. In prosecuting 
this design, it has been judged expedient, as preserving the 
continuity of the general argument, and for greater con- 
densation, to throw into the form of Notes such of the re- 
marks as have been retained which, more particularly apply 
to that author. Notes have also been subjoined on such 
of the arguments of others as seemed to bear against those 
advanced. In this, no disrespect is designed towards men 
who may have been eminently useful by their other labours. 
The author feels pain in being compelled to differ from 
any who are entitled to respect ; and especially does he 
regret the necessity of publicly opposing the venerable Mr. 
Mason, from whose writings his earliest acquaintance with 
Unfulfilled Prophecy was derived, and to whose occasional 
pulpit ministrations he has been much indebted. A con- 

viction of imperative duty, and a fear of the injury which 

a3 



X 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



the interests of truth might sustain from the omission, could 
alone have induced him to insert these Remarks. 

The author has only to add, that he had determined to 
publish anonymously, and should still have adhered to his 
resolution, but from an apprehension that it might have 
been construed into an unchristian fear of openly avowing 
his faith in any part of divine truth, when derided or op- 
posed — an imputation to which he would not willingly be 
subjected, remembering our Lord's declaration, when for- 
merly upon the earth, "whosoever therefore shall be 
ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and 
sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be 
ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father, 
with the holy angels." May He be pleased to bless this 
attempt, by rendering it useful in leading some to a more 
careful examination of the sublime doctrines it is designed 
to establish. 

JAMES A. BEGG. 

Paisley, March 26th, 1829. 



PREFACE 

TO 

THE SECOND EDITION. 



In again presenting to the Church the Scriptural argument 
for the premillennial coming of the Saviour, and other doc- 
trines with which it stands connected, the author desires to 
record his gratitude for the favourable reception it has ob- 
tained. He neither is nor does he wish to appear insensible to 
the value of the many pleasing proofs with which he has 
been furnished, that his humble labours have not been in 
vain. And the readiness with which the first impression 
was disposed of affords encouraging evidence of the increased 
attention directed to the subjects discussed; and from its 
already being translated into the German language, he 
indulges the hope that his little work may yet be rendered 
still more extensively useful in arousing the slumbering 
virgins from their lethargy, that they may be ready to meet 
the coming Bridegroom. 

In the present edition, a Section on the conversion of 
Israel has been added. It is not for the purpose of proving 
that the fact of their future conversion is matter of divine 
prediction that this addition is now made. The fact itself 
is so universally admitted, that even the citation of Scrip- 
ture passages for its establishment would be superfluous. 
But while there continues prevalent a system of interpreta- 
tion by which the numerous and express predictions of 



xii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

Messiah's coming and continued abode on earth are de- 
clared to mean merely the conversion of God's ancient 
people, and the universal reception of Christianity, it may 
be useful to show how little necessity there is for con- 
founding them together or merging them into each other — 
the faithfulness of God being pledged for the certainty of 
both, and the divine promises concerning them being suffi- 
ciently distinct, and uniformly recorded in language alto- 
gether dissimilar, but quite appropriate, and perfectly adapted 
for severally conveying ideas in themselves so unlike. 

Besides the evidence formerly advanced for the Literal 
Interpretation of Prophecy where figures are not intro- 
duced, all the earlier Sections are now enlarged, by the 
addition of arguments derived from the immediate contexts 
of the passages adduced. Indeed, the system of spiritual 
interpretation, as it is called, by which the promises (why 
not also the threatenings?) of God to " the house of 
Israel and to the house of Judah" are appropriated to them- 
selves by the Gentile church, is thus shown to be not more 
destitute of all direct authority than it is palpably at va- 
riance with the language in which they are conveyed. The 
duty of pointing attention to these predictions becomes the 
more necessary from the growing opposition manifested by 
many to the fact of Israel's restoration — an opposition which, 
if we mistake not, the Scriptures represent as ultimately 
reaching such a length that Britain herself may yet join 
that confederation which shall endeavour to thwart the 
declared purposes of the Most High. 

Some of the additional notes contain an examination of 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. xiii 

the principles advanced by Dr. Wardlaw in the last two 
Sermons of his recently published volume, and a few re- 
marks on Mr. Faber's " Sacred Calender of Prophecy," 
which the author has only latterly perused. It was indeed 
designed to have examined with greater frequency the argu- 
ments contained in the last-named work, which, though more 
elaborate, do not appear more solid than those advanced by 
others of similar views. It was, however, found impossible, 
within the limits of subjoined notes, to follow this author 
through his lengthened observations on the few passages he 
has discussed; while his reasonings were not deemed of 
sufficient importance to warrant on their account great de- 
parture from the adopted plan of the work. The author 
would renew his expression of regret at being thus called to 
controvert the opinions of those so distinguished for talent and 
Christian attainments. In examining the soundness of his 
opinions, much is due especially to the spirit displayed by 
Dr. Wardlaw, and for the ready appeal he makes to the 
standard of truth — a spirit which, while it adds to the 
esteem we have long cherished, also forms a pleasing con- 
trast to the temper which has not unfrequently been dis- 
played in the discussion of this subject. The nature of the 
remarks made will not, we trust, be found inconsistent with 
the courtesy implied in such an acknowledgment. 

These and various other improvements will, it is hoped, 
render the " Connected View" more complete, and fit it for 
greater usefulness in directing attention to " the Redeemer's 
Speedy Personal Return." As the object aimed at by its pub- 
lication is the promotion of more general inquiry concerning 



XIV PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

the subjects of which it treats, the price has been fixed low; 
but whatever profits may arise from this edition will be de- 
voted to the London Society for promoting Christianity among 
the Jews. The interest which every Christian ought to feel 
in the descendants of Abraham might of itself sufficiently 
justify such a preference. But on the affectionate regards 
of those who are " looking for and hasting unto the day of 
God," this Society has peculiar claims. Several of its most 
valued missionaries regularly teach with fidelity the Sa- 
viour's Speedy Coming and Glorious Reign. They have 
gone forth the heralds not only of the cross, but of the 
crown of Jesus. They at once proclaim the Saviour born 
of a virgin, and as coming with the clouds of heaven — as 
already " come in the fulness of time," and as yet to be 
sent " when the Times of Refreshing shall come from the 
presence of the Lord" — as " the Lamb of God who taketh 
away the sin of the world," and the Lord coming " with 
fire and with His chariots like a whirlwind to render his 
anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire" — as 
having expired on Calvary's cross, and as yet to " reign in 
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients glo- 
riously." Unfettered, in short, by the trammels of an un- 
authorized system of interpretation, they truly expound the 
Scripture Prophecies, and unfold to the faith of the inquir- 
ing Jew those truths sublime which the aspiring and rebel- 
lious reason of the Christian so often rejects or but reluct- 
antly receives. 

J. A. B. 

Paisley, March 26tk, 1830. 



CONTENTS. 



Sect. Page. 



1 Introductory Remarks on the Study of Prophecy, 


17 


2 Conversion of Israel, ... 


21 


3 Restoration of Israel to Palestine, 


26 


4 Restoration of both Israel and Judah, 


34 


5 Enlargement of the Holy Land, 


41 


6 New Division of the Holy Land, 


45 


7 Israel the Most Highly Honoured Nation, 


47 


8 Jerusalem Rebuilt and Enlarged, - 


57 


9 The whole Earth blessed in Israel's Restoration, 


60 


10 Millennial Felicity of the Inferior Creation, 


62 


1 1 The Redeemer's Millennial Reign, 


68 


12 The Redeemer's presence on Earth, 


72 


13 The Temple Rebuilt, 


80 


14 The Nations coming to Worship in Jerusalem, - 


95 


15 Review of Promises of the Presence of the Lord, 


100 



xvi CONTENTS. 

Sect. Page. 

16 Literal Fulfilment of Prophecy, - - 103 

17 Views of Believers, in the Apostolic Age, concern- 

ing the Millennial Kingdom, - - 112 

18 New Testament Predictions of Christ's Return at 

the Restoration of Israel, - - - 117 

19 New Testament Predictions of Christ's Return at 

the destruction of Antichrist, - - 143 

20 First Resurrection and Reign of the Saints, - 154 

21 Period of the Erection of Christ's Glorious Kingdom, 187 

22 New Heavens and New Earth, - - 194 

23 The New Jerusalem, 201 

24 Future Apostasy, General Resurrection, and Final 

Judgment, .... 205 

25 The Submission due to Revealed Truth, with Re- 

marks on Objections to these Doctrines, - 210 

26 Destruction of Antichristian Nations, - 222 



CONNECTED VIEW, 



SECTION I. 

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE STUDY OF 
PROPHECy. 

It is painful to contemplate the inconsistencies of even 
pious minds concerning Divine Revelation. Many who 
formally assent to the truth, " All Scripture is given by 
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness," do in effect 
deny it. Some are not ashamed to assert, that the rule of 
Christian conduct is contained, in the New Testament 
alone ; and, acting on the principle they avow, altogether 
neglect the Old. Yet it was this very portion of revela- 
tion which Christ enjoined the Jews to search, as testify- 
ing of Him, and which he commends to our careful con- 
sideration by his frequent quotations from it. 

Convinced that such utter neglect of any part of God's 
word must be criminal, others obey in form the Saviour's 
injunction, while they forget its spirit. They read with- 
out seeking sufficiently to understand ; they search not for 
its meaning as for hid treasure. Thus, much of Heaven's 
precious gift is regarded as of little value, and many of its 
unfulfilled prophecies, especially, have become in a great 
measure a dead letter. Indeed, the opinion had long and 
almost universally prevailed, that it was alike useless and 
impious to attempt to withdraw the veil of mystery which 
overhangs the revelation of events still future ; and although 
more correct ideas now partially obtain, exhortations to 
the obvious duty of prophetic inquiry are still occasionally 
met by the undutiful evasion, " It is presumptuous to pry 
into the secrets of God." There are, doubtless, mysteries, 



18 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON [Sect. t. 



the full knowledge of which is far beyond the reach of 
human ken, and into which it would be sinful curiously to 
pry. But never can presumption attach to our endeavour 
to know and understand what God himself has revealed, 
and to the investigation of which He has promised his spe- 
cial blessing. " Secret things belong to the Lord our God, 
but those which are revealed belong to us and to our chil- 
dren for ever." Deut. xxix. 29. If, then, we would not 
be found chargeable with neglect of a large portion of that 
Book which bears the impress of its divine original — which 
is the record of God's doings, and the revelation of His un- 
fulfilled designs — it becomes us reverently to inquire, with 
prayerful diligence, what He has been pleased to declare, 
and to seek to know " what Israel ought to do." 

It is a common objection to the study of Prophecy, that 
it is dark, and that its meaning is not designed to be under- 
stood till aftei its accomplishment. It is, indeed, essen- 
tial to the very nature of certain prophecies, that their im- 
port should not be known to all, nor perceived by any at 
a glance. But it ought not to be forgotten, that while we 
are informed these very mysteries shall be hid from the 
wicked, the promise is to the wise that they shall under- 
stand. Dan. xii. 10. x\nd although the fulfilment of Pro- 
phecy does effectually serve to attest the truth of Christi- 
anity, and gives a glorious display of the omniscience of 
God, yet the opinion that it is not designed to be at all 
understood till fulfilled, is refuted alike by the express de- 
claration of Heaven, and the past experience of the Church. 
This is neither the only end it was designed to serve, nor 
the only approved use to which it has been applied. " We 
have," says an inspired apostle, " a more sure word of Pro- 
phecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as to a 
light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, 
and the day-star arise in your hearts." 2 Pet. i. 19. And 
so it has ever been regarded by the saints of God in other 
days. It was not while in listlessness about the fulfilment 
of former predictions, that new communications were vouch- 
safed to the beloved Daniel ; but when, having " under- 
stood by books the number of the years" of Jerusalem's 
desolation, he besought God " by prayer and supplication." 
Dan. ix. 2. The Saviour reproved with much severity the 
Pharisees of old, because they perceived not the reality of 



Sect. I.] 



THE STUDY OF PROPHECY. 



19 



his Messiahship by " discerning the signs of the times ;" 
and, by the parable of the fig-tree, he inculcates upon his 
disciples the duty of watching for the indications of His 
Return. Matt. xvi. 3. xxiv. 32. The whole history of the 
Church indeed, in former ages, furnishes abundant refuta- 
tion of the opinion that prophetic times and circumstances 
cannot be ascertained.* The Christians who dwelt in 
Jerusalem at the period immediately preceding its destruc- 
tion, clearly saw the time of the Saviour's prophetic warn- 
ing, when, in obedience to his injunction, they escaped and 
fled. It was by faith in the truth of the divine prediction, 
and by attention to its times and circumstances, that, in 
the awful calamities which overtook the unbelieving and 
devoted city, not a hair of their heads did perish. Was 
not the period of Daniel's " seventy weeks" recognized by 
the devout and waiting Israelites who received the Saviour 
as their promised Messiah ? Nay, is it not a fact recorded by 
History, and known to all, that the Jews, as a nation, did 
expect their Messiah at the very time of Christ's appear- 
ance in the world? and through them did not the expec- 
tation of some wonderful Personage extend to the nations 
around ? The fact of his rejection argues nothing against 

* It is in mercy to His people, although it will add to the con- 
demnation of the wicked, that God has given such clear and deter- 
minate intimations of 44 the things that are to come hereafter ;" and 
any attempt to throw unnecessary doubt upon the certainty of the 
"times" revealed, calls for severe reprehension. To this charge there 
is reason to fear the Examinator of Mr. Irving's Opinions, in the 
Edinburgh Christian Instructor for 1828, (p. 476) has exposed him- 
self, when, in order to strengthen his argument for the impossibility 
of determining the commencement of " the mighty year of God's 
glory," he fixes upon a misprint of one of the dates in our version 
of the Septuagint. " In regard to the long period of Daniel," 
there is, in reality, no reason for its being 44 disputed, whether we 
should read with the Hebrew 2300, or with the Septuagint 2400 
years." Although all our common editions of the Septuagint have 
this typographical error, being printed from an edition into which 
it had crept, yet the Manuscript in the Vatican, from which that 
very edition was printed, has 2300, and not 2400. And of all the 
principal standard editions of the Septuagint, that alone from which 
ours are taken has this error. Let not, then, the carelessness of 
men be charged upon the Most High, nor the errors of copyists on 
the Spirit of inspiration.— For a full statement on this subject, see 
" The Scheme of Prophetic Arrangement of the Rev. Edward Irving 
and Mr. Frere critically examined, by William Cunninghame, Esq. 
of Lainshaw." 

b2 



20 



OX THE STUDY OF PROPHECY. 



[Sect. I. 



the sufficiency of the prediction. More anxious to obtain 
immediate deliverance from servitude to an earthly con- 
queror, than to receive emancipation from the thraldom of 
Satan, — and with hearts more intent on temporal power 
and worldly pomp, than with desires after that holiness 
which is the basis of Christ's kingdom, they beheld, in the 
anticipated Messiah, only the glory which is revealed, and 
refused to look upon, or receive as literal, the explicit pre- 
dictions of his sufferings and death. By attention to the 
Prophetic Scriptures, we can easily see, that although they 
introduce more frequently, and speak more at large, of the 
Millennial glory, they also predict, neither seldom nor am- 
biguously, the humiliation of Messiah which has preceded 
it. His rejection was occasioned neither by a lack of evi- 
dence, nor by their ignorance of the time assigned in Pro- 
phecy for his appearance. Men may shut their eyes upon 
the light, but this is no proof the sun has ceased to shine. 

Great ignorance of the meaning and design of the Pro- 
phetic Scriptures has, however, prevailed in the Christian 
Church ; and even yet, the predictions concerning the glory 
of the Latter Day, few study with care or seek fully to 
understand. By a most anomalous system of interpreta- 
tion, w T hich rests not satisfied with present accommodation 
and the anticipation of future fulfilment, some have ima- 
gined that all the promises of holiness and happiness and 
peace, under the reign of Him who is emphatically styled, 
" The King of Israel," mean nothing more than the pres- 
ence of the Comforter with the Church since the ascension 
of our blessed Lord, and individual enjoyment of peace in 
believing. But, in the present day, the great proportion of 
Christians who have given any attention to the Prophecies, 
believe that they predict a period of purest bliss as yet to 
be enjoyed upon the earth; to which, from the term of its- 
duration, has been given the name of The Millennium. 
Many, however, who not only anticipate this glorious era 
as still to be realized, but who, from calculation of pro- 
phetic dates, believe it to be near at hand, are yet " slow 
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken" con- 
cerning it. They are ready to admit, in general, the literal 
fulfilment of prophecy ; but, from preconceived ideas of the 
nature of Christ's reign and presence, they suppose that all 
the predictions in which these are declared, mean only the 



Sect, II.] 



CONVERSION OF ISRAEL. 



21 



universal reception of the gospel, in consequence of the 
plentiful effusion of the influences of the Holy Spirit. 

Much of the opposition which has been made to the 
doctrine of the glorious personal reign of Messiah on earth, 
is perhaps to be attributed to the too frequent neglect of 
the light shed upon Unfulfilled Prophecy, by the addresses 
of our Lord, and the writings of his apostles. By availing 
ourselves of the aid to be derived from a careful comparison 
of scripture with scripture, a more accurate conception 
may be obtained of the nature and peculiar blessings of 
that happy era. 

There is, however, an intimate connection between the 
predictions of the Redeemer's Millennial reign and the pro- 
mises given to Israel; and as those of the latter class are by 
many as little understood as those of the former, it may be 
proper, before entering upon the consideration of that doc- 
trine, first to point attention to some of the Scripture declara- 
tions concerning Abraham's race, classified under distinct 
heads. So completely blended indeed are these promises 
with all that is predicted of the Millennial age, as to ren- 
der surprising the ignorance and unbelief displayed on this 
subject, by many not otherwise ignorant of the Scriptures. 



SECTION II. 

THE CONVERSION OF ISRAEL. 

The distinguishing goodness of God has been illustriously dis- 
played in his dealings with the children of x\braham. From 
the time when He appeared to the patriarch in " Mesopo- 
tamia, before he dwelt in Charran," down through the long 
lapse of ages which have since intervened, the history of this 
people beautifully exemplifies the doctrine of a special 
providence, and places in the most attractive light the long- 
suffering and sovereign mercy of God. It is a record of 
human depravity, displaying deep forgetfulness of the way 
in which they were continually led, and tells of their in- 
vincible ingratitude to God for his abundant goodness and 
many wonderful interpositions in their favour, and in giving 
into their hands nations greater and stronger than they. 



22 CONVERSION OF ISRAEL. [Sect. II* 



Throughout, it is one continued display of Heaven's love 
and man's rebellion — of the most signal manifestations of 
divine interference in their behalf, followed by the most 
criminal departure from their gracious Deliverer. In study- 
ing the annals of Israel, we see that although their per- 
versity of disposition and untowardness of character often 
call forth the chastisements of Heaven, still the loving- 
kindness of the Lord is not withdrawn, and renewedly is 
his favour manifested towards them. If He takes ven- 
geance on their devices, it is still in measure, and by his 
love he again woos them to himself. Various kinds and 
degrees of punishment have at different periods been meted 
out to them, for their awful apostasies from the living and 
true God ; but their last and longest and most severe afflic- 
tion has been that which followed their arrival at the 
summit of their rebellion, in the crucifixion of the Lord of 
glory, and which they still continue to endure. But even 
from the guilt of this, Prophecy declares, they will yet be 
cleansed — being washed in the blood they so wantonly shed. 
Although, in His righteous displeasure, the Lord has long 
left them to wander in the vain imagination of their own 
hearts, he has not forsaken them altogether. They shall 
yet be converted and healed ; they shall yet be restored 
to purity and peace, to holiness and happiness. Then shall 
they see and acknowledge the enormity of their sin, in 
having " denied the Holy One and the Just," and in hav- 
ing " killed the Prince of life." " I will cleanse them/' 
says the Lord, "from all their iniquity, whereby they have 
sinned against me ; and I will pardon all their iniquities, 
whereby they have sinned,, and whereby they have trans- 
gressed against me." Jer. xxxiii. 8. " Neither will 1 hide 
my face any more from them ; for I have poured out my 
Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." Ezek. 
xxxix. 29. This conversion is, therefore, to be followed 
by no future apostasy ; and accordingly it is said in the 
22d verse, " So the house of Israel shall know that I am 
the Lord their God, from that day and forward." " And 
I will give you the land of Israel; and they shall come 
thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things 
thereof, and all the abominations thereof, from thence. 
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spi- 
rit within you ; and I will take the stony heart out of their 



Sect. II.] 



CONVERSION OF ISRAEL. 



23 



flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh ; that they may 
walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and do 
them ; and they shall be my people, and I will be their 
God." Ezek. xi. 17—20. " Then will I sprinkle clean 
water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; from all your filthi- 
ness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new 
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within 
you ; and I will take away the stony heart out of your 
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will 
put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my 
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them."* 
Ezek. xxxvi. 25—27. 

This conversion of Israel is secured in covenant : " Be- 
hold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a 
new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house 
of Judah. . . . This shall be the covenant that I will make 
with the house of Israel ; After those days, saith the Lord, 
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in 
their hearts ; and will be their God, and they shall be my 
people. " Jer. xxxi. 31 — 33. " And they shall be my 
people, and I will be their God ; and I will give them one 
heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for 
the good of them and of their children after them. And I 
will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will 
not turn away from them, to do them good ; but I will 
put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from 

• * Although in these precious spiritual privileges, Christians, as 
pertaining to the spiritual Israel, have an interest, yet are the pro- 
mises given directly to the literal Israel, whose restoration to their 
own land is indeed the principal theme of most of the predictions 
from which we have quoted. As this is, however, the subject of the 
following Section, we have wholly abstained from introducing it in 
this, although from the intimate connection with which both are pre- 
dicted, the quotations are often made at the expense of an unnatural 
rending from the context— a feature which characterizes more or less 
nearly all the earlier Sections of the work. Our design, of concen- 
trating in so limited a space as much as possible of the direct Scrip- 
tural Evidence bearing immediately upon the particular doctrines 
discussed, has rendered this unavoidable ; but, except in the present 
Section, we have always studied to obviate the evils which would 
result from forming a judgment on mere detached fragments, (a mode 
by which, alas ! the word of God is often grievously perverted,) by 
adducing such parts as are calculated to show the general bearing 
of the whole. Still we would entreat the reader to study with care 
the contexts of all the passages referred to. 



24 CONVERSION OF ISRAEL. [Sect. II. 

me." Jer. xxxii. 38 — 40. " In those days and in that 
time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, 
they and the children of Judah together, going and weep- 
ing ; they shall go and seek the Lord their God. They 
shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, 
saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a 
perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten/' Jer. 1. 4, 5. 
(i And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, 
and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, 
even every one that is written among the living in Jerusa- 
lem : when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of 
the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of 
Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judg- 
ment, and by the spirit of burning." Is. iv. 3, 4. Their 
mourning shall at once be general and particular. The 
promise of the Redeemer is, "And I will pour upon the 
house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 
the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look 
upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn 
for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in 
bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first- 
born. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jer- 
usalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley 
of Megicldon, [where, on the death of the good king Josiab, 
all Judah and Jerusalem made great lamentation. 2 Chron. 
xxxv. 24, 25.] And the land shall mourn, every family 
apart ; the family of the house of David apart, and their 
wives apart ; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and 
their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, 
and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and 
their wives apart ; all the families that remain, every 
family apart, and their wives apart. In that day there 
shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." 
Zech. xii. 10 — 14. xiii. 1. Their national conversion will 
be sudden and general, when it takes place. But as many 
have already been converted to the faith of the gospel — - 
and individual conversion we trust shall be greatly in- 
creased — so does Prophecy foretell great future destruc- 
tion as still awaiting them. In the appointed time, how- 
ever, God's gracious promise will be fulfilled ; — " I will 
remove the iniquity of that land in one day," Zech. iii. 9. 



Sect. II.] 



CONVERSION OF ISRAEL. 



25 



" And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant 
of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, 
shall no more again slay upon him that smote them ; but 
shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 
The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto 
the mighty Cod." Is. x. 20, 21. Neither shall they defile 
themselves any more with their idols, nor with their de- 
testable things, nor with any of their transgressions ; but I 
will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein 
they have sinned, and will cleanse them ; so shall they be 
my people, and I will be their God." Ezek. xxxvii. 23. 
" In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: 
We have a strong city ; salvation will God appoint for 
walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righte- 
ous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou 
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on 
thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for 
ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Is. 
xxvi. 1 — 4. The 12th chapter of Isaiah is a similar song 
of joy and salvation prepared to be sung by them at the 
same time.* 

Although we learn from the prophetic Scriptures, that 
their national conversion will yet be preceded by great and 
important events, still we trust it is to be realized at no 
distant day. Those strong prejudices against Jesus of 
Nazareth, which formerly prevented their examination of 
the evidence for the truth of Christianity, are passing 
rapidly away; and the Hebrew New Testament is now 
diligently perused by multitudes, with candour. From the 
numerous instances in which their inquiries have been fol- 
lowed by a perception of its heavenly origin and inesti- 
mable value, we look forward to the time, as near at hand, 
when the love of God shall be more generally shed abroad 

* Much of the book of Psalms also, is the inspired matter of Is- 
rael's praise, containing the most decided references to the period of 
their Conversion and Restoration. By attending to the fact, that a 
large portion of these songs are not designed to celebrate past events, 
relative to David or any other individual, but are rather prophetic 
compositions applicable to Israel as a nation, and relative to future 
times, (as is in general obvious from the internal evidence they con- 
tain,) much of the obscurity which is thrown around them by Ex- 
positors instantly vanishes, and their beautiful significancy becomes 
apparent. 



26 



RESTORATION OF ISRAEL 



[Sect. III. 



in their hearts, preparing them for the joyful welcome of 
the Saviour, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of 
the Lord/' Mat. xxiii. 39. Then the harp, so long un- 
strung, or only waked to breathe forth Israel's plaint, 
shall again be attuned to the heavenly melody of the Re- 
deemer's praise — infidelity shall give place to a lively faith 
— and instead of their proverbial covetousness, " Holiness 
unto the Lord" shall be inscribed on all their gains. 



SECTION III. 

RESTORATION OF ISRAEL TO PALESTINE. 

In all the prophecies of spiritual blessings given to Israel, 
believing Gentiles, as belonging to the spiritual Israel, have 
an interest. This privilege is not, however, obtained by 
any transference having been made of these promises from 
Israel to the Gentile church* But the literal Israel being 
the "good olive tree," of which "some of the branches are 
broken off/' believing Gentiles, as branches, are "grafted 
in among them ; and with them partake of the root and 
fatness of the olive tree" — the Israelites on their conversion 
being " graffedinto their own olive tree. "(Rom xi. 17 — 24.) 
On this ground the members of the Gentile church, though 
not directly addressed, are entitled to take to themselves the 
consolation of those promises of spiritual enjoyments con- 
tained in the preceding Section. But there are other pro- 
mises given to God's ancient people, peculiar to themselves, 
and which, from their very nature, can by no means be 
applied to any Gentile race. For example, to return from 
the utmost parts of earth, can belong only to those who have 
formerly been removed thither, which a " return" implies — 
there can be no gathering from among different and dis- 
tant nations, except of those who are previously scattered 
into them— and those only can be brought to the land of 
their fathers, who are the descendants of its former inhab- 
itants. These are, however, some of the privileges pro- 
mised to Israel, and of which attempts have been made, 
either altogether to deprive them, or by changing the na- 
ture of the blessings promised to render their interest in 



Sect. III.] 



TO PALESTINE. 



27 



them very equivocal. When such efforts are made, by an 
unauthorized appropriation, to claim as ours, promises 
which never were given to any Gentile people, and which 
never can be realized in their favour, it becomes an imper- 
ative duty to vindicate the purpose and promise of God to- 
wards the objects of His special and sovereign goodness, by 
showing that the only legitimate, nay the only possible ap- 
plication which can be made of such predictions, is to the 
lineal descendants of faithful Abraham. 

Before Israel was at all admitted to the promised land, 
Moses gave them a prophetic narrative, or prospective his- 
tory of all that should befall them — the blessings the Lord 
should bestow — their future apostasy — the captivity of 
themselves and of their king — the destruction of their 
city — the unparalleled sufferings to which they should 
be exposed — and their dispersion into all nations. Deut. 
xxviii. xxix. And having thus predicted, with fearful 
minuteness, the calamities by which they have since been 
overtaken for their sins, as the inspired servant of God he 
left them the gracious assurance that their wanderings and 
misery should ultimately terminate, by their being re-ad- 
mitted to the favour of God and restored to their own land : 
" And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come 
upon thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set be- 
fore thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the 
nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and 
shalt return unto the Lord thy God and shalt obey his 
voice, according to all that I command thee this day, thou 
and thy children, with all thine heart and with all thy 
soul ; that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, 
and have compassion upon thee, and will return, and 
gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy 
God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out 
into the utmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord 
thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee. 
And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land 
which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it ; 
and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy 
fathers/' Deut. xxx. 1 — 5. 

Of the correctness of the application of this promise to 
God's ancient people, there can be no doubt. And if so, 
what reason can be assigned why such a pledge of the 



28 



RESTORATION OF ISRAEL 



[Sect. III. 



love and faithfulness of God should not be literally re- 
ceived ? It is recorded with all that simplicity of language 
which characterizes the preceding chapters, the judg- 
ments detailed in which have been inflicted with the utmost 
minuteness. The prediction is extensive. It embraces 
the whole period of Israel's history till the present and 
future times — as the verses quoted, (which form its con- 
clusion,) evidently refer to their final restoration. The 
Babylonish captivity is not however overlooked. It is fore- 
told in a preceding part of this remarkable prophetic nar- 
rative in terms sufficiently distinctive : " The Lord shall 
bring thee and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, 
unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have 
known/' xxviii. 36. This then clearly refers to that cap- 
tivity when, " in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, 
king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon 
unto Jerusalem, and besieged it : and the Lord gave Jehoi- 
akim king of Judah into his frond" — "Against him came 
up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in 
fetters, to carry him to Babylon." — " And he carried away 
all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men 
of valour,. even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen 
and smiths ; none remained, save the poorest sort of the 
people of the land." Dan. i. 1, 2. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6. 
2 Kings xxiv. 14. This then was the captivity to which 
Israel, with their "king," were to be subjected. This 
part of the prediction had at that time its complete fulfil- 
ment, while it cannot at all apply to the captivity which 
followed their overthrow by the Romans. They had 
then no king to be carried captive. But we have also 
another distinctive mark by which the prediction in the 
above verse is fixed to the Babylonish captivity, and 
by which it is also rendered inapplicable to that which 
they afterwards suffered. They, together with their king, 
were at this time to be carried only into " a nation," while 
the restoration promised in the conclusion of the prediction 
must refer to their subsequent dispersion, which is afterwards 
predicted. 1/ is a restoration " from all the nations," " from 
the utmost parts of heaven." (xxx. 3, 4.) Besides having 
foretold their being carried captive with their king into one 
nation, the prophet therefore declares that the Lord should 
" scatter them among all people, from the one end of the 



Sect. III.] 



TO PALESTINE. 



29 



earth even unto the other/' (xxviii. 64.) There is no 
mention of their king as participating in this wide disper- 
sion, an omission which exactly corresponds with the cir- 
cumstances attending that captivity which followed their 
overthrow by the Romans. They had then no king, and 
it was not till then that they were dispersed kt among all 
people." The Romans are evidently the scourge here 
described. They are strikingly characterized by Moses 
to his brethren, as " a nation whose tongue thou shalt not 
understand ; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not 
regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young." 
(xxviii. 49, 50.) An account of the aggravated horrors of 
siege to which the Jews were subjected by them, forms 
part of the inspired detail, including even the mention of 
the revolting fact of delicate mothers eating their own chil- 
dren. Both captivities are, therefore, predicted ; and it is 
when "all these things" are come upon them, and when 
they shall call them " to mind, among all the nations 
whither they have been scattered," that they are to be 
restored. This therefore is not merely their restoration 
from Babylon, although that is included in the prediction ; 
but is the restoration which shall succeed their last and 
greatest captivity, not yet terminated. 

It is instructive to attend to such distinctive marks, given 
relative to events of a similar nature. Such an exact fulfil- 
ment of the threatened curse, should surely teach us in what 
manner the promised blessings are to be received. And as 
the judgment of dispersion, with all its attendant miseries, has 
been literally fulfilled, can we doubt that their restoration 
will be equally so ? It is added, that after this return to the 
land of their fathers, the Lord "will do thee good, and 
multiply thee above thy fathers" — a promise which, while 
it cannot apply to their return from Babylon, perfectly cor- 
responds with other prophecies concerning their future res- 
toration. 

Were there no other prediction in the inspired volume from 
which the literal restoration of Israel could be proved, this 
alone ought to be regarded as sufficient to decide the question. 
In the estimation of faith, it will weigh against a thousand 
speculations of erring reason about the expediency, and util- 
ity, and necessity, of such a thing. Ah ! there is surely 
something greatly wrong, when, ere the declared purposes of 



30 



RESTORATION OF ISRAEL 



[Sect. III. 



God can be believed, Inspiration must be arraigned at Rea- 
son's bar, and the wisdom and utility and certainty of 
Heaven's decrees must be submitted to her decisions. — But 
clearly and distinctly as Moses thus foretells their res- 
toration, his is no solitary prediction. On the contrary, 
if there be a single fact to which all the prophets have 
borne testimony — from the time of Moses, and before 
his day, down to the incarnation of the " Prophet like 
unto Moses," and beyond His stay on earth, even till 
after Patmos' isle had received his most-loved and longest- 
surviving apostle — that attested fact is, Israel's future 
restoration to Palestine. " For thus saith the Lord/' by 
the prophet Jeremiah, " Sing with gladness for Jacob, 
and shout among the chief of the nations ; publish ye, praise 
ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. 
Behold, / will bring them [to Zion] from the north coun- 
try, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and 
with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, 
and her that travaileth with child together; a great com- 
pany shall return thither. They shall come with weep- 
ing, and with supplications will 1 lead them." Jer. xxxi. 
7 — 9. That this promise is not to the church, but to the 
literal Israel, is obvious from its also including other bles- 
sings, which relate exclusively to the land of Palestine : 
" Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Sama- 
ria ; the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common 
things/' ver. 5. Besides proving that the only application of 
such passages is to the house of Israel; it is also necessary, 
however, that attention be given to the time to which they 
relate. Those who deny the future restoration, assert of 
all such predictions, that they were fulfilled in the return of 
the Jews to Babylon, if it should be found impossible, (even 
with the aid of a most convenient system of interpretation) 
to transfer them to the church. That restoration was in- 
deed divinely predicted also, but in the present selection of 
passages, none are inserted except such as are, from their 
context, evidently future. And such is the case in the pre- 
diction above quoted ; for when this restoration is enjoyed, 
" they shall not sorrow any more at all." ver. 1 1 . But, 
since their return from Babylon, they have had more cause 
to " sorrow" than they ever had before. They are now 
more widely scattered, and more cruelly dealt with, than 



Sect. III.l 



TO PALESTINE. 



31 



while under the power and within the dominions of Nebu- 
chadnezzar ; and the only captivity of Israel since that 
period, is that from which they are not yet recovered. 
And is their restoration to be considered less real, because 
it is future ? The Lord will undoubtedly perform this His 
promise in their favour, and " gather them from the coasts 
of the earth." Nor can this restoration be confounded 
with their conversion, which is here predicted as an accom- 
paniment. In coming from the coasts of the earth, "they 
shall come/' saith the Lord, " with weeping ; and with 
supplications will I lead them," ver. 9. 

Ezekiel records a similar prophecy, "Therefore say, 
Thus saith the Lord God, I will even gather you from the 
people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye 
have been scattered, and J will give you the land of 
Israeli Ezek. xi. 17. To the same period, obviously, does 
this promise refer. It is the pledge of recovery, not from 
one land alone, as was that from Babylon, but of their res- 
cue from " the countries" into which they have latterly 
" been scattered!' And those who are so desirous of invest- 
ing the Gentile church with the various promises given to 
Israel, will do well to observe, how this is secured to them. 
Addressing the Hebrew prophet, the Lord calls those to be 
thus gathered, " thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men 
of thy kindi^ed" whom He had "cast far off among the 
heathen/' ver. 15, 16. Nor is this to be explained as pre- 
dicting merely their conversion, which the Lord immediate- 
ly promises in addition ; " I will put a new spirit within 
you, and will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and 
will give them an heart of flesh/' ver. 19. 

Again, " Thus saith the Lord God," by the same pro- 
phet, " Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and 
bring them out, as a shepherd seeketh out his flock, in the 
day that he is among his sheep that are scattered ; so will 
I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all f laces 
where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark 
day ; and I will bring them out from the people, and gather 
them from the countries, and will bring them to their own 
land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the 
rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I 
will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high moun- 
tains of Israel shall their fold be ; there shall they lie in a 

c2 



32 



RESTORATION OF ISRAEL 



[Sect. III. 



good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed, upon the 
mountains of Israel/' Ezek. xxxiv. 11 — 14. These sheep, 
it is added, "are men" and "they, even the house of 
Israel, are my people, saith the Lord.'' ver. 31, 30. That 
they are the literal Israel is also evident, as they are to be 
gathered " from the countries and brought to their own 
land" to the " mountains of Israel/' and to " all the in- 
habited places of the country ," ver. 13, 14. This restora- 
tion has not yet been enjoyed, for, after it "they shall no 
more be a prey to the heathen/' " neither bear the shame 
of the heathen any more" " but they shall dwell safely, 
and none shall make them afraid." ver. 28 — 31. 

Once more, by the same prophet, " Thus saith the Lord 
God, Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and 
have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and will be jeal- 
ous for my holy name; after that they have borne their 
shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespas- 
sed against me when they dwelt safely in their land, and 
none made them afraid. When I have brought them again 
from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies* 
lands, and am sanctified in them, in the sight of many na- 
tions ; then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, 
which caused them to be led into captivity among the 
heathen : but / have gathered them unto their own land, 
and have left none of them any more there. Neither will 
I hide my face any more from them ; for I have poured 
out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.'* 
Ezek. xxxix. 25 — 29. This clearly refers to the literal 
Israel, as it was they who " went into captivity for their in- 
iquity," who were " led into captivity among the heathen;" 
and it is they only who remain yet to be gathered " out 
of their enemies lands .... unto their own land/' Neither 
is this the restoration from Babylon, for all Israel did not 
then return ; but, when this promise is fulfilled, there is 
"left none of them any more there." It is also immediately 
subsequent to Israel's triumph over Gog, when they shall 
" spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed 
them, saith the Lord." ver. 10. It is, consequently, still 
future, which is farther obvious from the Lord's gracious 
assurance, "neither will I hide my face any more from 
them." 

If these predictions do not prove the future restoration 



Sect. III.] 



TO PALESTINE. 



33 



of the literal Israel to the land of their fathers, it may 
certainly be asked, In what language could such a promise 
be made, that would not be equally liable to be misapplied, 
perverted, or discredited ? We may as well deny the literal 
conversion as the literal restoration of Israel — most of the 
passages which assure us of the one, predicting also the other. 
If it was not a figurative dispersion they suffered, neither 
will it be a figurative restoration they shall enjoy. And if 
dispersion was a part of the punishment of their national 
transgression, so also will restoration be obtained when for- 
given of the Lord, and will be connected with their national 
repentance. And how wonderfully has the Lord preserved 
the Jews for this display of His sovereignty and grace ! 
Though scattered into every nation of Europe, and though 
many of them are possessed of immense wealth, they have 
not been allowed to become the proprietors of any soil. 
They have no inheritance in other lands, and they have 
always cherished a passionate desire to return to their own. 
Throughout their long captivity, they have thus been kept 
unsubjected to the influence of other local attachments, and 
in a state of constant readiness for migration ; and recent 
movements among them render it highly probable that the 
time of their general departure is at hand.* By the dispen- 
sations of His providence, the Lord is manifestly preparing 
the way for their return. In the plenitude of their un- 
controlled power, earthly potentates may indeed combine, 
and, with a view to perpetuate their systems of iniquity, 
may create kingdoms at will, allot to them the territories 
they shall possess, and appoint the kings by whom they 

* In the Jewish Expositor for January last, (a monthly periodical 
deserving of more general circulation, being entirely devoted to the 
best interests of Israel, and containing regularly the correspondence 
of the Jewish Missionaries.) there is an extract of a letter from Mr. 
Wolff, dated Cyprus, July 15, containing an account of 100 Jews, 
from Constantinople, having arrived at Jaffa, while Mr. W. was 
there, on their way to Jerusalem. It is added, "A friend, on whose 
judgment and veracity equal confidence maybe placed, writing from 
Constantinople, more recently, says, that when he first arrived he 
heard of a great number of ships, hired by the Jews to convey them 
to Jerusalem. He found they were going in expectation of the near 
coming of their Messiah. He adds, that thousands of families were 
preparing to embark from all quarters." This statement was con- 
firmed by another friend, writing from the south of Europe, under 
date, November 28. 

c 3 



34 



RESTORATION OF THE KINGDOMS [Sect. IV, 



shall be governed, without asking counsel of the Lord, or 
regulating their decisions by His 6 ' sure decree." In all their 
calculations, Israel may not be reckoned ; in their disposal 
of territory, no portion may be assigned for their inherit- 
ance. But the God of Jacob " has purposed, and who 
shall disannul it?" " Zion shall be redeemed with judg- 
ments, and her converts with righteousness." " But ye, 
O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, 
and yield your fruit to my people of Israel ; for they are 
at hand to come." Is. i. 27. Ezek. xxxvi. 8. 



SECTION IV. 

RESTORATION OF THE KINGDOMS BOTH OF ISRAEL 

AND JUDAH. 

In the preceding Section, we have endeavoured to prove, 
from the contexts of the passages adduced, that their only 
legitimate application is to the literal house of Israel; and 
that the restoration they predict is yet future. Those now 
to be cited, are, however, more obviously so, as the class 
of predictions they contain are still less capable of being 
alienated from their proper objects. Their accommodation 
to the Gentile church is still less admissible, because, from 
the distinctions they make, it is rendered more apparent 
that they relate to the descendants of Abraham. By ex- 
press mention of the kingdom of Israel or the Ten Tribes, 
distinguished from that of Judah or the Two Tribes,* their 
reference to the literal Israel is put beyond question; while 
the fact that the Ten Tribes have received no general re- 
storation since these p re dictions were given, renders it 
equally manifest that the promised return to the Holy 
Land is still future. Under Ezra, a small portion of the 
Israelites returned from Babylon to their own land, when 
liberated by Cyrus. But those who went up were in all only 
aboutfifty thousand, (including above seven thousand servants, 
Ezra ii. 64, 65,) not a fifth of the whole, and these appear to 

* Attention is forcibly called to this distinction in certain predic- 
tions which relate to the different circumstances in which they have 
so long been placed — Israel being outcast and Judah dispersed. 



Sect. IV.] BOTH OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH. 



35 



have been almost all, if not wholly, of the kingdom of J udah ; 
the Two Tribes, J udah and Benjamin : (Ezra i. 6. iii. 9. iv. 
1, 12.) while we are expressly told that " the nations whom 
the great and noble Asnapper brought over, and se*t in the 
cities of Samaria/' when the Israelites were carried into 
Assyria, still continued to occupy them. Ezra iv. 10. For 
at the time Samaria was taken by Shalmanezer, he " car- 
ried Israel [the Ten Tribes] away into Assyria, and placed 
them in Halah, and in Habor, by the river of Gozan ; and 
in the cities of the Medes. . . . And the king of Assyria 
brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, 
and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them 
in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel ; 
and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities there- 
of." 2 Kings xvii. 6, 24. Of the captive Israelites, individ- 
uals would doubtless embrace opportunities of returning, 
but it is known with certainty that no general restoration 
of them has since taken place. The testimony of History 
proves, that, both in the first and fifth centuries of the 
Christian era, they were still in or near the places of their 
original settlement ; but latterly they have disappeared from 
observation, and various conjectures are now entertained 
concerning their present situation and circumstances. ¥ The 
Lord will, however, in His own time, bring them from 
their hiding place, as in the following predictions they are 
clearly distinguished from the kingdom of Judah, with 
whom they are to be restored and afterwards re-united. 

With justice, therefore, in arguing the question, we might 
have assumed that those predictions which declare their 
combined restoration, " even the whole house of Israel," 
still remain unaccomplished. In addition to the evidence 
of this palpable fact, we will, however, as in the preceding 

* The features and customs of the American Indians have led 
many to believe them to be of Jewish extraction ; and it was the opi- 
nion of Sir William Penn, that they were no other than the remnant 
of the Ten Tribes of Israel. Various authors have since adopted the 
same view ; and a work entitled " The Hope of Israel" has lately 
been published, endeavouring to establish the fact. The work itself 
we have not yet seen ; but if the numerous striking coincidences 
mentioned in its Introduction (as quoted in the Jewish Expositor 
for January last) have been satisfactorily ascertained, they may cer- 
tainly be considered as forming " Presumptive Evidence that the 
Aborigines of the Western Hemisphere are the long-lost Ten Tribes 
of Israel." 



36 



RESTORATION OF THE KINGDOMS 



[Sect. IV. 



Section, endeavour to prove, from the several contexts them- 
selves, that this restoration has not yet been obtained. " For, 
lo ! the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again 
the captivity of my people, Israel and Judah, saith the 
Lord ; and I will cause them to return to the land that I 
gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it!' Jer. xxx. 
3. The inspired prophet immediately adds, " and these 
are the words which the Lord spake concerning Israel, 
and concerning Judah!' ver. 4. It might almost be sup- 
posed, from this renewed specification, that the repetition 
was designed to prevent the possibility of any alienation of 
the consolations the prophecy presents, by the misapplica- 
tion of it to the Gentile church. Their return being to 
the same "land" which the Lord gave to "their fathers," 
the restoration must be literal. Nor is there any necessity 
to destroy the meaning of language, by calling this a pre- 
diction of their conversion, (a misnomer at which we have 
sometimes occasion to marvel,) this being also distinctly 
foretold : " They shall serve the Lord their God, and The 
Beloved,* their King, whom I will raise up unto them." 
ver. 9. This, therefore, is an unaccomplished prediction, as 
neither the house of Israel nor that of Judah yet " serve" 
The Beloved — the King they shall ultimately acknowledge 
and serve. 

The same prophet again records a similar prediction : 
" In those days, the house of Judah shall walk with the 
house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the 
land of the north, to the land that I have given for an in- 
heritance unto your fathers." Jer. iii. 18. If, then, "the 
land given for an inheritance to their fathers" w T as the land 
of Palestine, their return must be to it. This will be "in 
those days" when " they shall call Jerusalem the Throne 
of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it." 
ver. 17. This, however, it is scarcely necessary to say, is 
one of the promises concerning the Millennial Day; which 

* In an admirable Letter to the Rev. Dr. Hamilton of Strath- 
blane, by Henry Drummoml, Esq. in " Defence of the Students of 
Prophecy," the proper meaning of the name 44 David," used in our 
Translation of this and other prophecies concerning the Saviour, 
is well explained. Signifying, as it does, " The Beloved," (a title 
applied, to the Saviour in the New Testament, Eph. i. 6.) for the 
sake of perspicuity, we have in the above quotation, and in others 
of a similar nature, made the substitution. 



Sect. IV.] 



BOTH OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH. 



37 



is farther evident from its being at the time of their last 
conversion : " neither shall they walk any more after the 
imagination of their evil heart." 

Though not expressly named, both kingdoms are in- 
cluded in the restoration declared in the following pre- 
diction by Zephaniah : " Behold at that time I will undo 
all that afflict thee ; and I will save her that haltetb, and 
gather her that was driven out ; and I will get them praise 
and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. 
At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that 
I gather you : for I will make you a name and a praise 
among all people of the earth when I turn back your cap- 
tivity before your eyes, saith the Lord." Zeph. iii. 19, 20. 
Israel is " her that halteth/' and Judah " her that was 
driven out ;" but the shame of both, it is here foretold, shall 
cease together : " I will get them praise and fame in every 
land." The one is to be saved, the other to be gathered; 
and " the captivity 91 of both is to be turned away. The 
time to which the prophecy relates is when those who have 
afflicted Israel shall be undone; and the futurity of its ful- 
filment may also be ascertained from the promise that then 
" the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity/' and they 
shall "not see evil any more?'* ver. 13, 15. 

Isaiah also bears explicit testimony to the same truth : 
" And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord 
shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of 
his people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, 
and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and 
from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of 
the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, 
and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather to- 
gether the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the 
earth." Is. xi. ]0 — 12. This is not the Gentile church, 
for in the preceding verse, " the Gentiles" are expressly 
mentioned as quite distinct both from " the outcasts of 
Israel," and from " the dispersed of Judah." The very 
names of the Gentile nations whence they are to be res- 
cued are introduced. And it is farther to be observed, that, 
as no such restoration has hitherto been enjoyed, and as it 
has only been by their last captivity that Judah has been 
dispersed into " the four corners of the earth," this gather- 
ing cannot yet have taken place. That it refers to the 



38 



RESTORATION OF THE KINGDOMS [Sect. IV. 



period of the Millennium, the whole context indeed dis- 
tinctly proves, when " the earth shall be full of the know- 
ledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." ver. 9. 
Nor is it to be confounded with their conversion, which is 
here again also foretold : " The Lord Jehovah is my 
strength and my song ; He also is become my salvation." 
(xii. 2.) 

The restoration of both Israel and Judah, and their sub- 
sequent union, were symbolically represented to the pro- 
phet Ezekiel. He was commanded to take " one stick 
and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Is- 
rael his companions; then take another stick and write 
upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the 
house of Israel his companions." These he was com- 
manded to join " one to another into one stick?' This, 
he is informed, represents the union of the tribes of Israel 
with those of Judah ; and it is added by the Lord, "Be- 
hold I will take the children of Israel from among the hea- 
then whither they be gone, and will gather them on every 
side, and bring them into their own land; and I will make 
them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, 
and one king shall be king to them all ; and they shall be 
no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two 
kingdoms any more at all. . . . And The Beloved, my 
servant, shall be King over them .... and they shall dwell 
in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, 
wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell 
therein, even they, and their children, and their chil- 
dren's children for ever, And my servant, The Beloved, 
shall be their Prince for ever!' Ezek. xxxvii. 21 — 25. 
When this promise receives its accomplishment, Israel 
and Judah shall be made " one nation in the land upon 
the mountains of Israel," and shall dwell in the land 
wherein their fathers have dwelt. This sufficiently indi- 
cates its application to the literal Israel ; and that it refers 
to no past time is evident from its being followed by peace 
never again to be interrupted, either by external foes or by 
jealousies and divisions amongst themselves, and from both 
acknowledging the sovereignty of " one King," even " The 
Beloved/' who " shall be their Prince for ever J' Neither 
Israel nor Judah, as nations, have yet submitted to Him in 
any sense ; but this prediction foretells their conversion 



Sect. IV.] BOTH OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH. 



39 



and restoration and submission to the Messiah, as to follow 
their being gathered from among the heathen, and united 
into one nation. They shall no more thenceforth be cursed 
with dispersion, but being brought " into their own land . . . 
they shall dwell therein, even they and their children, and 
their children's children, for ever;" for the Lord " will make 
a covenant of peace with them ; it shall be an everlasting 
covenant." Does all this mean merely their conversion ? 
That is promised additionally : " They shall also walk in my 
judgments, and observe my statutes and do them." ver. 24. 

A prediction precisely similar to that already quoted 
from Zephaniah, is given by the prophet Micah : " In that 
day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and 
I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have 
afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and 
her that was cast far off a strong nation ; and the Lord 
shall reign over them in Mount Zion, from henceforth 
even for ever." Micah iv. 6, 7. Although neither is ex- 
pressly mentioned, the conditions of Israel and Judah ap- 
pear to be here referred to ; the former as halting, the 
latter as driven out. These are to be " gathered," im- 
plying their previous dispersion ; those require merely to 
be assembled ; and both are to submit to the Saviour's 
sceptre; — " the Lord shall reign over them!' This proves 
its futurity, which is farther evident from the perpetuity 
of their subjection to Messiah's sway. It shall never cease, 
from the time referred to — 4 ' from henceforth, even for 
ever!' This reign commences with the Millennium, when 
" nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither 
shall they learn war any more." ver. 3. It will be in the 
land of Palestine, "in Mount Zion ;" and will be preceded 
by their conversion : " and we will walk i n the name of 
the Lord our God, for ever and ever.''* ver. 5. 

* Those who take an interest in the present condition and future 
prospects of the Jews will .find, in small compass, much important 
and interesting information, in an excellent Discourse, on 44 The 
Salvation of Israel," by the Rev. William Symington, Stranraer. 
The eloquent author has not, indeed, expressed a decided opinion 
on their literal Restoration, hut in his citations from the prophets 
in proof of their 44 need to be saved from their wide dispersion," 
(p. 14.) and of 44 their being gathered together," (p 23.) he has 
produced evidence on which the reader can scarcely fail to decide 
for himself. 



40 



RESTORATION OP ISRAEL AND JUDAH. [Sect. IV. 



Such predictions amply prove the future restoration of 
both the Ten Tribes and the Two Tribes; and, if we 
mistake not, they also point out their present separate 
existence. It is the opinion of many who advocate the 
literal restoration of the " whole house of Israel," that the 
remnant of the Ten Tribes have become incorporated with 
dispersed Judah. The language of these predictions leads 
us to a different conclusion. They seem to intimate that 
their union has not yet taken place. Their situations 
previous to their restoration are represented differently — 
Judah, when particularized, being generally spoken of as 
" dispersed," and " scattered Israel, never. Judah is 
frequently said to be " gathered while Israel, in contrast, 
is said to be "saved," and "assembled," and "brought 
again." Israel are " outcasts," and only a " remnant ;" Ju- 
dah, though " cast far off," is still " a strong nation." Their 
restoration appears to take place while these are the 
peculiarities of their situations, and their union to be 
effected only at that time. In the very act of returning to 
their own land, they appear to meet, and although they 
come "together" from the north country, their being 
together seems something new. It is to be viewed as an 
occurrence which just then takes place, rather than as 
evidence of their being already blended with each other. 
Their union into one nation, as represented by the junc- 
tion of the two sticks, is explained to mean their being 
gathered and brought to their own land — a symbol which 
at least loses much of its significancy by supposing them 
to have become already one, and their union as effected 
long before their being brought to their own land. In 
Hosea, (i. 10) concerning Israel we are told, that "it shall 
come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, 
Ye are not my people ; there it shall be said unto them, 
Ye are the sons of the living God." This refers to the 
period of their future conversion ; and observe what follows, 
"Then shall the children of Judah and the children of 
Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one 
head, and they shall come up out of the land, for great 
shall be the day of Jezreel." ver. 12. The time of 
their being gathered together, thus appears to be when 
they shall appoint over them one head, — " then," and 
not before. In Zechariah (ix. 13) both are expressly men- 



Sect. V.] ENLARGEMENT OF THE HOLY LAND. 



41 



tioned, and in such terms as appear to imply their being in a 
distinct state, even after their return from their captivity : 
" When I have bent Judah for me, [as a bow,] filled the 
bow with Ephraim," &c. Zech. ix. 13. We stop not to 
inquire particularly into the meaning of the prophecy, but 
simply observe, that the one being represented as a bow, 
while the other is the arrow with which it is filled, inti- 
mates a correspondence in the different purposes in which 
they shall respectively be employed by the Lord. When 
they are made " one nation," it is to be " on the land, upon 
the mountains of Israel." It is only then they are to 
cease being " divided and it is then, " they shall be no 
more two nations." Even when thus united, there is no 
reason to believe they shall be blended, as those who take an 
opposite view suppose they already are. If "Judah shall 
not vex Ephraim," it will not be on account of their dis- 
tinctions having passed away ; but because " Ephraim shall 
not envy Judah," an expression which is deprived of its 
meaning by supposing them to have no separate exist- 
ence. We say nothing here of the future distinction of 
both kingdoms into their separate tribes. Since such in- 
formation can only be supplied miraculously, the prophecy 
of the New Division of the Holy Land, afterwards noticed, 
(Sect. VI.) supplies us with no information relative to their 
present state. 



SECTION V. 

ENLARGEMENT OF THE HOLY LAND. 

Not only is Israel to be restored to the land of Canaan, 
but they are to receive an extension of their possessions to 
the whole of the original grant given to Abraham in cove- 
nant, and never yet enjoyed : "Unto thy seed have I given 
this land from the river of Egypt [the Nile] unto the great 
river, the river Euphrates!' Gen. xv. 18. This promise 
was renewed, and the boundaries of their inheritance were 
farther pointed out : " And I will set thy bounds from the 
Red Sea, even unto the sea of the Philistines, [the Medi- 
terranean,] and from the desert unto the river" [Euphrates.] 



ENLARGEMENT OF 



[Sect. V. 



Exod. xxiii. 31. And by conjoining these with the 
following, the boundaries of the promised land, on all its 
sides, are clearly defined: "Everyplace whereon the 
soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours, from the 
wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, 
even unto the uttermost sea, [the Mediterranean,] shall 
your coast be." Deut. xi. 24. This extent of territory, 
however, they have never yet possessed. Under the reign of 
Solomon, the nations occupying the countries adjacent 
to the then possessions of Israel were indeed tributary ; 
and in this, it has been argued, the promise of God was 
fulfilled. But this was not Israel's possessing the land. 
There was no restriction made in the divine grant to their 
occupying a part only of the specified territory, and 
the subjection merely of others. On this principle of 
interpretation, it could not be proved that the Lord had 
promised them any part of the land for actual possession. 
Since no such distinction was expressed in the grant, if God's 
covenant was fulfilled by a part of the promised land 
having been rendered tributary merely, then certainly might 
it have been equally fulfilled, had the whole been so also. 
But Heaven stands pledged to Abraham, that unto his seed 
shall the whole prescribed territory be " given." Of the 
inhabitants of the whole land, " from the Red Sea, even 
unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the 
river," the Lord declared, " I will deliver the inhabitants 
of the land into your hands, and thou shalt [not merely 
receive tribute from them, but 'thou shalt'] drive them 
out before thee." It was Israel's sin, that when they were 
able, they " did not utterly drive them out" from much 
of the promised land, as they had been commanded. For 
this sin they were severely rebuked and chastised. (Judges 
i. 21 — 36.) But although that generation criminally de- 
prived themselves of the full enjoyment of the promised 
blessing, their guilt could neither alienate nor annul the 
covenant which God sware unto their fathers. The pro- 
mise shall ultimately be performed, though by the sins of 
successive generations, it has been long delayed. A literal 
restoration of Israel must therefore be obtained, that they 
may occupy the land promised to their fathers, and that 
the faithfulness of God be not found to fail. This is ac- 
cordingly promised for future times, and the recovery of it 



Sect. V.] 



THE HOLY LAND. 



43 



is distinctly foretold. " They shall fly upon the shoulders 
of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil 
them of the east together ; they shall lay their hand upon 
Edom and Moab, and the children of Amnion shall obey 
them" Is. xi. 14. This is part of a prediction which 
clearly refers to their future Restoration, (as shown in the 
preceding Section,) when the Lord " shall assemble the 
outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of 
Judah, from the four corners of the earth. The envy of 
Ephraim also shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah 
shall be cut off;" and then upon Mount Zion, " there 
shall be holiness!' It therefore refers to a future time, 
when the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah, claiming 
the promised land, " shall spoil them of the east together ; 
they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the 
children of Ammon shall obey them."* "Upon Mount 
Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness ; and 
the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions ; and 
the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph 
aflame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall 
kindle in them and devour them ; and there shall not be 
any remaining of the house of Esau, [the Edomites, or Idu- 
means,] for the Lord hath spoken it. And Saviours shall come 
up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau." Obad. 17 — 
21. In order that the house of Jacob may "possess their pos- 
sessions/' including " the Mount of Esau," and the cap- 
tivity of the Canaanites, " even unto Zarephath ;" they shall 
destroy until " there shall not be any remaining of the 
house of Esau:" nor can the fulfilment of this distinct, but 
remarkable prediction, be referred back to the time of 
David or of Solomon, not having been given till hundreds 
of years after. The destruction it foretells is, besides, 
very different from receiving " tribute" from the Edomites. 
Its application to the future Restoration of Israel, is also ob- 
vious from its being immediately followed by the Millen- 
nium : " And the Kingdom shall be the Lord's." ver. 21. 

* "They are," says the Rev. Mr. Mason of Wishawtown, " to 
conquer and possess the Philistines, Edom, Moab, and the children 
of Ammon. ... As Israel, when they came up out of Egypt, did 
subdue and possess the land of Canaan ; so the remnant of this 
people who are left among the Gentiles, when they shall be assem- 
bled together, shall conquer and inhabit the land of Promise." 
(Gentiles' Fulness, p. 125.) 



44 



ENLARGEMENT OF THE HOLY LAND. [Sect. V. 



This forcible possession of the promised land was pre- 
dicted by Moses in the blessing he pronounced on Israel 
before his death. " There is none like unto the God of 
Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in 
his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, 
and underneath are the everlasting arms ; and He shall 
thrust out the enemy before thee, and shall say, Destroy 
them, Israel then shall dwell in safety alone : the foun- 
tain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine : also 
his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O 
Israel : who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, 
the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy ex- 
cellency ! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto 
thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places/' Deut. 
xxxiii. 26 — 29. It is also the very threat which the 
wicked Balaam prophetically declared to Balak concerning 
Israel and his people " in the latter days." Numb. xxiv. 
14 — 24. The enjoyment of their land, to the extent of 
the original promise, is accordingly one of the blessings 
announced to be received by Israel for the Millennial pe- 
riod ; and its boundaries are fully marked out in that 
remarkable prophecy with which the book of Ezekiel con- 
cludes : " Thus saith the Lord God, This shall be the bor- 
der whereby ye shall inherit the land, according to the 
twelve tribes of Israel ; Joseph shall have two portions. 
And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another ; concern- 
ing the which I lifted up mine hand, to give it, unto your 
fathers : and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. 
And this shall be the border of the land toward the north 
side ; from the great sea, [the Mediterranean,] the way of 
Hethlon, as men go to Zedad ; Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, 
(which is between the border of Damascus and the border 
of Hamath,) Hazar-hatticon, (which is by the coast of 
Hauran;) and the border from the sea shall be Hazar- 
enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, 
and the border of Hamath ; and this is the north side. 
And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from 
Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel 
by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea, [the Eu- 
phrates, sometimes called a ' sea/ from its size ;] and this 
is the east side. And the south side southward, from Ta- 
mar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the 



Sect. VI.] NEW DIVISION OF THE HOLY LAND. 



45 



great sea, [the Mediterranean ;] and this is the south side 
southward. The west side also shall be the great sea, [the 
Mediterranean,] from the [south] border till a man come 
, over against Hamath ; this is the west side. So shall ye 
divide this land unto you, according to the tribes of Israel/' 
Ezek. xlvii. 13 — 21. This is an extent of territory greatly 
beyond what Israel has ever yet enjoyed. Their land, as 
formerly possessed, is even given as one of the marks by 
which the new boundary on one side is to be ascertained : 
"from the land of Israel, by Jordan." ver. 18. 



SECTION VI. 

NEW DIVISION OF THE HOLY LAND. 

The enlargement of Israel's inheritance will necessarily 
occasion a new division of the land. Accordingly, the 
divine allotments to the various tribes are distinctly record- 
ed in Ezek. xlviii. This division is altogether different 
from that made in the days of Joshua, the lots of the 
tribes being proportioned to the extent of the enlarged in- 
heritance ; and distinct specification is made of the relative 
situations of the whole, all running parallel to each other 
from west to east. The distinction of tribes having long 
been lost, it can now be regained only by miraculous infor- 
mation ; but it will doubtless be supplied, otherwise, 
the specification contained in this chapter had never been 
given. But besides the portions allotted to the Twelve 
Tribes, nearly in the centre of these a large portion, called 
the Holy Oblation, is also reserved as an offering unto the 
Lord : " Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land 
for inheritance, ye shall offer an Oblation unto the Lord, 
an Holy Portion of the land ; the length shall be the length 
of five and twenty thousand reeds, [the reed being six 
cubits long, Ezek. xl. 5, or nearly eleven feet English,] 
and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy 
in all the borders thereof round about. Of this there shall 
be for the Sanctuary five hundred in length, with rive hun- 
dred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits 
round about for the suburbs thereof. And of this measure 

d3 



46 



NEW DIVISION OF THE HOLY LAND. [Sect, VL 



shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, 
and the breadth of ten thousand : and in it shall be the 
Sanctuary, and the most holy place." Ezek. xlv. 1 — 3. 
This is farther described, and its relative situation deter- 
mined, in another chapter: " And by the border of Judah, 
from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering 
which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in 
breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the 
east side unto the w T est side, and the Sanctuary shall be 
in the midst of it!' Ezek. xlviii. 8. Concerning this it is 
said, " The Holy Portion of the land shall be for the 
priests, the ministers of the Sanctuary, which shall come 
near to minister unto the Lord ; and it shall be a place for 
their houses, and an holy place for the Sanctuary." Ezek. 
xlv. 4. Another portion of equal size with that described 
above, is reserved for the Levites, who formerly had no 
inheritance : " And, over against the border of the priests, 
the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, 
and ten thousand in breadth ; all the length shall be five 
and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. And 
they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the 
first fruits of the land : for it is holy unto the Lord." Ezek. 
xlviii. 13, 14. This is also confirmed in the 45th chapter; 
" And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the ten 
thousand of breadth, shall also the Levites, the ministers 
of the house, have for themselves, for a possession for 
twenty chambers." Ezek. xlv. 5. The Division of the 
land into its various portions is in the following order, be- 
ginning at the north border, and descending southward : 
The portions of Dan, of Asher, of Naphthali, of Manasseh, 
of Ephraim, of Reuben, and of Judah (xlviii. 1 — 7) ; next 
of the Holy Portion or " Holy Oblation, four square," 
offered unto the Lord (xlviii. 8 — 22) ; then follow the 
portions of the remaining tribes, of Benjamin, of Simeon, of 
Issachar, of Zebulun, and of Gad," (xlviii. 23 — 28.) 
And " this is the land which ye shall divide by lot 
unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are 
their portions, saith the Lord God." ver. 29. But in this 
Division is to be noticed another and most remarkable cir- 
cumstance. Besides the ancient city of Jerusalem which 
is to be rebuilt, and in which the Sanctuary of the Lord is 
to be re-erected, particular mention is here made of another 



Sect. Vtt.] ISRAEL HIGHLY HONOURED. 



47 



City of nearly ten miles square, separated by the portion of 
the Levites, twenty miles in breadth, from that in which 
the Sanctuary is placed : " And the five thousand that are 
left in the breadth, over against the five and twenty thou- 
sand, shall be a profane place for the The City, for dwell- 
ing and for suburbs, and the City shall be in the midst 
thereof!'' ver. 15. The measurements of this city with its 
suburbs follow, and it is added, " And the residue in length, 
over against the Oblation of the Holy Portion, shall be ten 
thousand eastward and ten thousand westward, and it 
shall be over against the Oblation of the Holy Portion ; and 
the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve 
The City. And they that serve The City shall serve it 
out of all the tribes of Israel!' Ezek, xlviii. 15 — 19. These 
three compartments, into which the Holy Oblation is divid- 
ed, consisting of two of ten thousand reeds each, in breadth, 
and one of five thousand, all being of equal length, render it 
in whole a square of fifty miles : " AM the Oblation shall 
be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand; 
ye shall offer the Holy Oblation four square with the pos- 
session of The City." Ezek. xiviii. 20. 

This remarkable allotment offered to the Lord, it is to 
be remarked, is situated- nearly in the centre of the differ- 
ent portions of all the tribes of Israel, " between the border 
of Judah and the border of Benjamin," and it is said, " shall 
be for The Prince." After describing the boundaries of 
the remaining five tribes of Israel, (the relative situation 
of which is also different from what they were formerly,) 
and again adverting to the measurements of this remarkable 
City, with the number and names of its gates, the prophecy 
closes by declaring of it, that " The name of The City 
from that day shall be, The Lord is there." * 

SECTION VII. 

ISRAEL THE MOST HIGHLY HONOURED NATION. 

Degraded as Israel now is and has long been, when re- 
stored they shall be highly esteemed among the nations, 

* To some other particulars concerning this City we shall have 
occasion to advert in the 23d Section, on the New Jerusalem. 



48 



ISRAEL THE MOST 



[Sect. VII. 



and perpetually enjoy the peculiar favour of God. The 
promises of this are numerous. And in quoting a few, it 
will not be necessary, on this head, to prove their reference 
to future times, this being universally admitted. But, being 
very generally claimed, like the promises of previous Sec- 
tions, as the property of the entire Christian churchy 
we must still endeavour to ascertain their rightful owner. 

One of these delightful predictions is given by the pro- 
phet Isaiah : " For Zions sake will I not hold my peace, 
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteous- 
ness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation there- 
of as a lamp that burnetii. And the Gentiles shall see thy 
righteousness, and all kings thy glory ; and thou shalt be 
called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord 
shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in 
the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand 
of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, 
neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate ; but 
thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah ; 
for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be mar- 
ried. For as a young man marrietb a virgin, so shall thy 
sons marry thee ; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the 
bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." Is. lxii. 1 — 5. As it 
is the literal Jerusalem which has been termed " Forsaken," 
and the literal land of Israel which has been termed " De- 
solate," so surely it is the literal city and land which will 
be "no more" so called, when this promise is fulfilled. 
The distinction between the Gentiles and those apostrophized 
by the prophet, is besides clearly expressed : " The Gentiles 
shall see thy righteousness," It is not therefore their own, 
but Jerusalem s righteousness, (as is common in all lan- 
guages, the place for the people,) which the Gentiles shall 
see ; and accordingly, the prophecy proceeds : " I have set 
watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never 
hold their peace, day nor night. (Ye that make mention 
of the Lord, keep not silence ; and give Him no rest, till 
he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the 
earth.) The Lord hath sworn by His right hand, and by 
the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy 
corn to be meat for thine enemies ; and the sons of the 
stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast 
laboured: but they that have gathered it shall eat it, and 



Sect. VII.] 



HIGHLY HONOURED NATION. 



49 



praise the Lord ; and they that have brought it together 
shall drink it in the courts of my holiness." ver. 6 — 9. 
That it is the literal Jerusalem (the city for the people) 
that is addressed, is thus more obvious. It is the literal 
Israel's " corn' that has been meat for their " enemies," 
and the wine for which they laboured have strangers drunk. 
It will, therefore, be in the literal Israel's better days that 
this shall "no more" be the case, even when the Lord shall 
make the now forsaken Jerusalem " a "praise in the earth." 
And accordingly in the following verse the call is made'to 
" prepare the way" for their restoration : " Prepare ye the 
way of the people." And when their highway has been 
V cast up," and when the " stones" which impede them in 
their journey Zion-ward, have been removed ; and when a 
"standard" has been elevated, around which they may 
rally ; and when their " Salvation" shall have come, then 
men " shall call them, The Holy People, the redeemed of 
the Lord, and [again apostrophizing Jerusalem,] thou shalt 
be called, Sought out, [in contrast to her name during the 
dispersion,] a city not forsaken." ver. 11, 12. 

In this bold but beautiful figure of 'personification the 
Lord again addresses Zion : " Surely the isles shall wait 
for me, and the ships of Tars his h first, to bring thy sons 
from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the 
name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, 
because he hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers 
shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister un- 
to thee ; for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my, favour 
have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be 
open continually, they shall not be shut day nor night, that 
men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and 
that their kings may be brought. For the nation and king- 
dom that will not serve thee shall perish ; yea, those nations 
shall be utterly wasted.. .The sons also of those that 
afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee ; and all they 
that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles 
of thy feet ; and they shall call thee The City of the Lord, 
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast 
been forsaken and hated ; so that no man went through 
thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many 
generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, 
and shalt suck the breast of kings : and thou shalt know 



50 



ISRAEL THE MOST 



[Sect. VIi; 



that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the 
mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and 
for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones, 
iron : I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors 
righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy 
land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou 
shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The 
sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for bright- 
ness shall the moon give light unto thee ; but the Lord 
shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy 
glory. Thy sun shall no more go down ; neither shall thy 
moon withdraw itself : for the Lord shall be thine ever- 
lasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. 
Thy people also shall be all righteous ; they shall inherit 
the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of 
my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall be- 
come a thousand, and a small one a strong nation : I the 
Lord will hasten it in his time." Is. lx. 9 — 22. 

There are few prophecies more frequently misapplied 
than this, and there are few that have a greater number of 
marks by which we may distinguish its proper objects. A 
single glance at the whole chapter is sufficient to prove its 
application to the literal Israel, and we have therefore 
quoted at some length. The prophecy abounds with beauti- 
ful figures, but they are figures having no reference to the 
Gentile church.* Throughout, a distinction is maintained 
between " the Gentiles" and those to whom the prophecy 
immediately relates. It is figuratively addressed to Zion, 
as representing the people of Israel, the " sons" brought 
"from far." These have the attendance of the Gentiles, 
from whom they are clearly distinguished : ° The Gentiles 
shall come to thy light;" and " the forces of the Gentiles 
shall come unto thee" — pointing out a perfect distinction 
between those coming and those to whom they do come. 

* Though often overlooked, there is a wide difference between 
figurative Language and that which is sometimes called spiritual. 
The former may be used for the illustration of any subject, but the 
power of the latter is uniformly exercised in clustering blessings of 
every nature (and sometimes incongruously enough) around the 
Gentile church. Figurative language, properly applied, is equally 
elegant and useful ; but the end the other is frequently made to 
serve is only an abuse of words. 



Sect. VII.] 



HIGHLY HONOURED NATION. 



51 



When Zion's "sons" are brought "from far," they shall 
bring "their silver and their gold with them." This ao 
cords with other predictions concerning their restoration, but 
it is sometimes applied to the converts to Christianity conse- 
crating their wealth to the service of the Lord. But al- 
though this is a duty to which believers are bound to at- 
tend, it has nothing to do with the prediction before us. 
The sons of Zion are not merely to bring their wealth with 
them, but they are themselves to be brought ; and that by 
a conveyance, the mere mention of which should be suf- 
ficient to prevent its ever being applied to the Gentile church : 
" and the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy sons from far." 
ver. 9. "Ships," while perfectly suited, and really requis- 
ite, for the restoration of Israel from many of the lands into 
which they have been scattered, are quite unnecessary as a 
mode of admission to the fellowship of the church. Farther, 
it was the literal Israel, and not the church, whom God 
"smote" in His " wrath ;" it was the literal Israel whom 
the nations "afflicted" and "despised," who were "for- 
saken" and "hated;" and to them, in happy contrast to 
their past and present state, does the promise apply : "Vio- 
lence shall no more be heard in thy land; wasting nor 
destruction within thy borders." ver. 18. And as their be- 
ing brought "from far]' accords with the predictions con- 
tained in preceding Sections, so also with these do the pro- 
mises harmonize that Israel " shall be all righteous," and 
that "they shall inherit the land for ever;" and that they 
shall be greatly multiplied : " A little one shall become a 
thousand, and a small one a strong nation." May the 
Lord " hasten it in His time !" 

With such numerous checks, it is surprising that any of 
God's people should seek to alienate the prophecy from 
those to whom it has been given. The promises are con- 
ceived to be too great, and the prediction too sublime, to 
refer to the debased, despised, oppressed, and infidel Heb- 
rews, But God's ways are not as our ways, nor His 
thoughts as ours. Of the aggravation of their past and 
present guilt, man cannot form so correct an estimate as 
the Holy Spirit, and none can speak more decidedly the 
language of its just condemnation than does the word of 
God. Yet, for His own glory, Jehovah hath " chosen 
Zion ; He hath desired it for His habitation." He will yet 



52 



ISRAEL THE MOST 



[Sect. VII. 



" clothe her priests with salvation ; and her saints shall 
shout aloud for joy." (Ps. cxxxii. 13 — 16.) It is not to 
apostate Israel, but to Israel reclaimed from the error of 
their ways, that such abundant glory is reserved. When 
they shall obtain external homage, they shall be possessed 
of internal grace. The prophecy itself declares that their 
" people shall be all righteous;" and to the period of their 
conversion does the apostle Paul also place its fulfilment, 
while he gives the whole weight of his inspired testimony 
to the legitimacy of its application to the literal Israel. 
The verses quoted form part of a prediction which is 
continued from the preceding chapter, the conclusion of 
which, (slightly accommodated, being quoted from the 
Greek translation of the Seventy,) the apostle adduced to 
the Romans, applying it directly to the literal Israel: 
" For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of 
this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, 
[how much needed, and how much neglected is the admo- 
nition now !] that blindness in part is happened to Israel, 
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in ; and so all 
Israel shall be saved ; as it is written, [Is. lix. 20.] There 
shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away 
ungodliness from Jacob ; for this is my covenant unto them, 
when I shall take away their sins." Rom. xi. 25 — 27. 
Here the apostle, expressly drawing a distinction between 
the Hebrews and the Gentiles — a distinction unequivocally 
maintained throughout his argument — proves his position, 
concerning the future national salvation of Israel, by the 
quotation of a portion of the very prophecy we have al^ 
ready been considering. But had that prophecy been given 
in promise to the Gentile church, rather than concerning 
the literal Israel, who had then been " broken off because 
of unbelief," its evidence would have been altogether inad- 
missible. The apostle's proof would be at once rendered 
worthless by such a supposition. His argument evidently 
rests upon the fact of the prediction referred to having been 
given in favour of those whose "fall" was "the riches of 
the world," and "the diminishing of them the riches of the 
Gentiles /" — which fall shall continue " until the fulness 
of the Gentiles be come in," or till the close of the present 
Gentile dispensation. 

Higher sanction cannot be required in favour of the in- 



Sect. VII.] HIGHLY HONOURED NATION. 53 

terpretation already given of the above sublime prediction, 
as applicable to the Hebrew nation ; to whom, we have 
seen, it is absolutely limited by the language of the pro- 
phecy itself. And we are thus admonished of the error of 
transferring to the Gentile church blessings pronounced on 
Israel. In general, the slightest examination of the con- 
text is sufficient to show to whom any prophecy refers ; and 
this is particularly the case in the predictions concerning 
the honour which Israel shall obtain after their restoration. 
We quote another, parts of which are subjected to the 
same misapplication so often noticed : " I will make all 
my mountains a way," saith the Lord, " and my high- 
ways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: 
and, lo, these from the north and from the west ; and these 
from the land of Sinim. Sing, O heavens ; and be joyful, 
O earth ; and break forth into singing, O mountains : for 
the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy 
upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken 
me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman for- 
get her sucking child, that she should not have compassion 
on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I 
not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms 
of my hands ; thy walls are continually before me. Thy 
children shall make haste; thy destroyers, and they that 
.made thee waste, shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine 
eyes round about, and behold : all these gather themselves 
together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou 
shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an orna- 
ment, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy 
waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruc- 
tion, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhab- 
itants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. 
The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost 
the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too 
strait for me : give place to me that I may dwell. Then 
shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, 
seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, 
and removing to and fro ? and w T ho hath brought up these? 
Behold, I was left alone ; these, where had they been ? 
Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand 
to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people : 
and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daugh- 

E 



ISRAEL THE MOST 



[Sect. VII. 



ters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall 
be thy nursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing- 
mothers : they shall bow down to thee with their face to- 
ward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet ; and thou 
shalt know that I am the Lord : for they shall not be 
ashamed that wait for me." Is. xlix. 1 1 — 23. 

In the preceding Sections, it has been fully shown who 
they are, that, at the commencement of the Millennium, 
shall come " from the north, and from the west, and from 
the land of Sinim." It has been also ascertained, to what 
Zion it has been said, "thy children shall make haste 
that it is that Zion which the destroyers have so long 
made " waste;" she who yet complains, "I have lost 
[by dispersion] my children, and am desolate!' It is the 
same Zion whose " sons and daughters'' are brought to 
their own land, — brought by friendly " Gentiles. " The 
pen of Inspiration here clearly draws the distinction so 
often overlooked by those interpreters who refer such pre- 
dictions to the Gentile church : " Thus saith the Lord 
God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and 
set up my standard to the people ; and they shall bring thy 
[Zion's] sons, and thy daughters shall be carried upon 
their shoulders'* — a beautiful figure of the tender and 
affectionate solicitude which believing Gentiles shall yet 
feel in the interests of God's ancient people, and the assist- 
ance they shall render in their restoration. The figure is 
still continued in language which proves that the restora- 
tion of Israel to their land, will, at a future time, in some 
countries at least, become an object of royal concern ; and 
that the homage of the rulers of nations, in their official 
capacity, shall be presented to them : " Kings shall be 
thy nursing-fathers, and queens thy nursing-mothers ; they 
shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, 
and lick up the dust of thy feet." What a change must 
be effected in the minds of men, when the Lord shall have 
"turned again the captivity of Zion!" — when, instead of 
being " spoiled evermore," Israel shall " eat the riches of 
the Gentiles"- — when, instead of their " old desolations," 
" the sons of strangers shall build up their walls" — when, 
instead of the oppression and tyranny they everywhere 
experience, " the nation and kingdom that will not serve 
them shall perish." 



Sect. VII.] 



HIGHLY HONOURED NATION. 



55 



The assistance rendered by Gentiles to Tsrael in return- 
ing to their own land is beautifully recognized in Scripture 
Prophecy as a service done to God, and they themselves 
are acknowledged as a " present" to Him. <c In that time 
shall the "present be brought unto the Lord of hosts, of a 
people scattered and peeled, (and from a people terrible 
from their beginning hitherto,) a nation meted out and 
trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to 
the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount 
Zion," Is. xviii. 7. The " time" referred to in the con- 
text is one of great commotion and distress ; a period deeply 
interesting to " all the inhabitants of the world, and dwellers 
on the earth." ver. 3. In this time of awful trouble shall 
the restoration of Israel take place. (Dan. i. 1, 2.) They 
shall be aided in their return by others. The love of a 
mighty people shall be excited in their behalf; the love 
of a Christian people, for they shall bring Israel as a pre- 
sent "unto the Lord" — even literal Israel, the people 
who have been " scattered and peeled." They shall bring 
them not merely into the fellowship of the church, but to 
a particular place, — " the place of the name of the Lord 
of hosts," which place is "the Mount Zion." 

"And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise 
up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste 
cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers 
shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien 
shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers. But ye 
shall be named the priests of the Lord ; men shall call you 
the priests of our God ; ye shall eat the riches of the Gen- 
tiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves," Isa. 
Ixi. 4 — 6. In these verses it is evident, that those thus 
honoured are not Gentiles, but a people distinguished from 
them. They shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, but are 
themselves that people who, in Scripture Prophecy and 
in Gospel narrative alike, are contrasted with them. They 
are those whose " waste cities " need to be repaired, and 
whose "former desolations" require to be raised, " even 
the desolations of many generations When again they 
shall possess their land in peace and in security, and when 
blessed with the forgiveness and especial favour of God, 
Gentiles shall willingly be their servants in tending their 
flocks, in cultivating their fields, and in dressing their vine- 



56 



ISRAEL HIGHLY HONOURED. 



[Sect. VII. 



yards ; while they themselves are more honourably occu- 
pied in the service of God, — " but ye shall be named the 
Priests of the Lord ; and men shall call you the Ministers 
of our God." The Lord " shall cause them that come 
of Jacob to take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and 
fill the face of the world with fruit." Is. xxvii. 6. " And 
it shall come to pass when ye be multiplied and increased 
in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no 
more, The Ark of the covenant of the Lord ; neither 
shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember 
it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be* 
done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem 
The Throne of the Lord, and all nations shall be 
gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem y 
neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of 
their evil hearts." Jer. hi. 16, 17. That this is at the 
period of the Millennium, the last sentence sufficiently in- 
dicates. It is also connected immediately with the res- 
toration both of Israel and of Judah, (ver. 18.) the context 
having been already considered. " And thou, O tower of 
the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto 
thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kinGt 
dom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem! 1 Mic. 
iv. 8. This also is at the future restoration of Israel and 
Judah, when the Lord shall '' assemble her that halteth/ > 
and " gather her that is driven out. v ver. 6, 7. "In that 
day shall the Lord of Hosts be for a crown of glory, and 
for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people"* 
Is. xxviii. 5. 

* Much of the difficulty which many experience in believing that 
these sublime and gracious promises shall really be accomplished, 
arises from their estimating God's designs concerning the future by 
present appearances, and from their always viewing the predictions 
with reference to human probability. But it ought to be remem- 
bered, that if " the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel," that 
what He has promised he is able also to perform. It is charged 
as an aggravated part of the provocation in the wilderness that they 
" tempted God, and limited the. Holy One of Israel," Ps. Ixxviii. 41. 



Sect. VIII.] JERUSALEM REBUILT AND ENLARGED. 57 



SECTION VIII. 
JERUSALEM REBUILT AND ENLARGED. 

Part of the provision made for the long-dispersed, outcast, 
and despised Israel, is the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the 
capital, and formerly the glory of their land. " Thus 
saith the Lord, Again there shall be heard in this place, 
which ye say shall be desolate without man and without 
beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jer- 
usalem, (that are desolate without man, and without in- 
habitant, and without beast,) the voice of joy and the voice 
of gladness ; the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of 
the bride ; the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord 
of Hosts. " Jer, xxxiii. 10, Jl. That this promise refers to 
future times is evident from its being when the Lord will 
cause both " the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Is- 
rael to return/' ver. 7 ; and " in those days shall Judah be 
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safety; and this is the 
name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our Right- 
eousness." ver. 16. Such descriptions of the safety and 
holiness of Jerusalem cannot apply to any part of her pre- 
vious history, but refer decidedly to the period of the Mil- 
lennium . 

A similar prediction concerning the rebuilding of Jerusa- 
lem, is given by Jeremiah, although "the City" is not ex- 
pressly named : " Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will 
bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy 
on his dwelling places ; and the city shall be builded upon 
her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the man- 
ner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, 
and the voice of them that make merry ; and I will mul- 
tiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify 
them, and they shall not be small. Their children also 
shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be estab- 
lished before me, and 1 will punish all that oppress them. 
And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their Gover- 
nor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause 
him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me ; for who 
is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me ? 
saith the Lord." Jer. xxx. 18—21. This refers clearly to 

e 3 



58 



JERUSALEM REBUILT [Sect. VIII. 



the future restoration of Israel. The felicity and increase 
described, cannot apply to their return from Babylon; 
while its connection with the destruction and overthrow of 
all their enemies carries forward our views to the commence- 
ment of the Millennium as the period to which it relates : 
" All they that devour thee shall be devoured ; and all 
thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity/' 
ver. 16. 

The city shall not only be rebuilt, but Prophecy signifi- 
cantly points to its occupation of the same site on which it 
formerly stood. In the above prediction it is marked with 
emphasis, " And the City shall be builded upon her own 
heap." The same thing is declared by Zechariah : "And 
Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, 
even in Jerusalem." Zech. xii. 6. This is repeated by 
the same prophet in another chapter, which contains some 
additional circumstances of interest: " And the Lord shall 
be King over all the earth ; in that day shall there be one 
Lord and his name one. All the land shall be turned as 
a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem ; and it 
[Jerusalem] shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, 
from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate unto 
the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the 
king's wine presses. And men shall dwell in it, and there 
shall be no more utter destruction ; but Jerusalem shall be 
safely inhabited." Zech. xiv. 9 — 11. The futurity of the 
fulfilment of this prediction is alike evident from its close 
and commencement. It refers to the time when " the 
Lord shall be king over all the earth," when our prayer 
shall be answered, " Thy kingdom come." There shall 
then be "no more utter destruction;" but Jerusalem being 
rebuilt^ "shall be safely inhabited," and this re-erection 
will be " in her place!' It is not so obvious where " the 
king's wine-presses" formerly were, although we apprehend 
they may have been without the city; and if so, that this 
is an intimation of the future enlargement of Jerusalem. 
But the point to which we at present direct attention is to 
the circumstance of a portion of the land being " turned 
into a plain" This is to be from " Geba to Rimmon J 3 
The former was a city situated in the tribe of Benjamin; 
it was built by Asa, king of Judah, and was one of the 
" thirteen cities given to the sons of Aaron." There were 



Sect. VIII.] 



AND ENLARGED. 



59 



two Rimmons, the one in the tribe of Zebulun, on the 
northern boundary of Palestine ; the other in the tribe of 
Simeon, on the border of Edom. The prophecy distin- 
guishes these, and refers to the latter as " south of Jeru- 
salem." There is, therefore, no reason to doubt that the 
prediction is to be understood literally ; although the change 
referred to be of a miraculous nature. 

That the city is to be greatly enlarged is evident from 
the following prediction : " Behold the days come, saith 
the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the 
tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the 
measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon 
the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And 
the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and 
all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of 
the horse-gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the 
Lord ; it shall not be plucked up nor thrown down any 
more for ever." Jer. xxxi. 38— 40. The city shall not 
only " be built" to all its former dimensions, but a con- 
siderable enlargement is evidently described. The precise 
extent of this, however, it is difficult to ascertain, as we 
nowhere else find mention made of either Gareb or Goath. 
But the line by which Jerusalem is measured going u forth 
over against" the one, and compassing " about unto" the 
other, it may be inferred they were at some distance from 
the city. But it shall include what evidently formed no 
part of the city formerly, " the whole valley of the dead 
bodies, [near to Golgotha, and supposed by some to be so 
called from the bodies of malefactors being exposed or in- 
terred there,] and of the ashes [supposed to be from the 
ashes of the sacrifices thrown there] and all the -fields unto 
the brook of Kidron," or Cedron, which runs south-east- 
ward, along the east side of Jerusalem, through the valley 
of Jehoshaphat, also called the valley of the son of Hinnom, 
Without pretending to determine its precise limits, it is suf- 
ficient to prove its future enlargement, that the city is then 
to embrace within its bounds what formerly were the adjoin- 
ing "fields." 

It shall then be remarkable, not merely for its enlarged 
accommodation, but eminent for its holiness : " Thus saith 
the Lord, / am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the 
midsi of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called a City 



60 



THE WHOLE EARTH BLESSED 



[Sect. IX, 



of Truth ; and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, The 
Holy Mountain. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, there 
shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of 
Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for 
very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys 
and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the 
Lord of Hosts, If it be marvellous in the eyes of the rem- 
nant of this people in these days, should it also be marvel- 
lous in mine eyes ? saith the Lord of Hosts." Zech. viii. 
3 — 6. Some of these characteristics Jerusalem has never 
yet possessed, and the prediction has internal evidence of 
its referring to the holy and happy Millennial Day ; and is 
subsequent to the restoration of both " the house of Judah 
and the house of Israel;" (ver. J 3.) and after the Lord 
had " scattered" the inhabitants of " Jerusalem" with a 
" whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. 81 
(vii. 7, 14.) 

In another prediction, universally referred to the Mil- 
lennial period, the Lord thus promises : " Behold I create 
Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will 
rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people : and the voice 
of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of 
crying. . . . And they shall build houses and inhabit them ; 
and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them." 
Is. lxv. 18 — 21. " And I will restore thy judges as at 
the jirst," saith the Lord, " and thy counsellors as at the 
beginning : Afterward thou shalt be called, The City of 
Righteousness, The Faithful City." Is. i. 26. 



SECTION IX. 

THE WHOLE EARTH BLESSED IN ISRAEL S 
RESTORATION. 

In again bringing His ancient people to the Land of Pro- 
mise, the Lord will eminently promote his own glory, while 
their restoration will be attended with the most blessed 
effects to all the earth. His promise is, k{ I will make 
them, and the places round about my hill a blessing, and 
I will cause the shower to come down in his season ; there 



Sect. IX.] IN ISRAEL S RESTORATION. 



61 



shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field 
shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase; 
and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I 
am the Lord, ivhen I have broken the bands of their yoke, 
and delivered them out of the hand of those that served 
themselves of them." Ezek. xxxiv. 26, 27 This is so 
manifestly the literal Israel, that we deem it altogether un- 
necessary again to refer for proof to its context, formerly 
considered. Nor has the promise been yet fulfilled, for 
then they shall not " bear the shame of the heathen any 
more!' ver. 29. 

"And I will cause the captivity of Judah, and the cap- 
tivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the 
first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, 
whereby they have sinned against me ; and I will pardon 
all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby 
they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a 
name of Joy, a praise, and an honour before all the nations 
of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto 
them ; and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness 
and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it." Jer. xxxiii. 
7 — 9. And will it not excite a burst of surprise from those 
in the church, who ought from the word of God to be pre- 
viously aware of the Lord's designs of " goodness" and 
'* prosperity" to His ancient people? Why should that 
which God himself declares shall be to Him 4tf a name of 
joy, a praise, and an honour" be so obstinately rejected 
or so reluctantly received by any of His chosen ? 

" 1 will direct their work in truth, and I will make an 
everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be 
known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the 
people : All that see them shall acknowledge them, that 
they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed, . . . For as 
the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth 
the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord 
God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth be- 
fore all people." Is. lxi. 8 — 11. This shall be when they 
" repair the waste cities, the desolations of many genera- 
tions;" when " they shall rejoice in their portion," and 
when, for the "shame" they have endured, " in their land 
they shall possess the double." ver. 4 — 7. 

" And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse 



62 



GENERAL FELICITY OF 



[Sect. X. 



among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; 
so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing!' Zech. viii. 
13. This being subsequent to the restoration of both king- 
doms from " among the heathen," proves clearly that it is 
yet unaccomplished. " But now, I will not be unto the 
residue of this people, as in the former days, saith the Lord 
of Hosts ; for the seed shall be prosperous, and the vine 
shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, 
and the heavens shall give their dew ; and I will cause the 
remnant of this people to possess all these things." ver. 11, 
12. " And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of 
many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon 
the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the 
sons of men/' Micah v. 7. This shall be after their restor- 
ation, and when their last oppressor shall be destroyed; 
when the " Ruler in Israel" shall deliver them from " The 
Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he 
treadeth within our borders ;" when they shall " raise 
against him seven shepherds and eight principal men, and 
they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword;" (ver. 
2 — 6) which is generally acknowledged to be at the period 
of their future restoration. 



SECTION X. 

GENERAL FELICITY OF THE INFERIOR CREATION. 

Under every aspect in which it can be viewed, the coming 
Millennium forms matter of delightful anticipation. Unit- 
ing with its bright manifestation of the glory of God the 
general holiness and well-being of men, the heart which 
desires it not must be pronounced destitute alike of the 
principles of Piety and the feelings of Philanthropy. In 
considering some of the prophecies concerning its holiness 
and happiness our views are at once carried back to the early 
scenes of Eden's bliss, and we recal the delightful remem- 
brance of un fallen man surrounded by the various tribes of 
animate creation sporting in peace and undisturbed secu- 
rity. Who that witnesses from day to day the sufferings 
of useful animals, under man's oppressive toils and outrage- 



Sect. X.] 



THE INFERIOR CREATION". 



63 



ous cruelty, desires not ardently the time of their release? 
The pangs they are made to endure from these and other 
causes have been entailed upon them by man's transgres- 
sion. Until Paradise was defiled by sin, harmony and 
love universally prevailed. Before corruption entered the 
human heart, ere the Wicked One acquired his dire ascend- 
ancy over the lord of this lower creation, the inferior ani- 
mals possessed not even their destructive and offensive 
tendencies. Till then, those which are now distinguished 
by untameable ferocity, without reluctance acknowledged 
man's supremacy, and submitted to his sway. But Sin 
wrought a woeful change. Man himself having rebelled 
against his bountiful Creator, Heaven made him read the 
reproof of his ingratitude in the dread, and insubordination, 
and fierce defiance of animals which were wont to yield 
unto his will. And thus it has continued. Successive gener- 
ations have passed away, and the same features of rebel- 
lion characterize man towards his Maker, and the lower 
tribes toward their lord. But thus it will not always be. 
Heaven hath decreed a better day as yet to dawn. Satan 
shall shortly be despoiled of his usurped dominion ; and the 
blessing of the Lord shall again descend upon a regenerated 
earth. " Times of the Restitution of all things" He hath 
purposed from eternity, and announced to His church " by 
the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." 
When man shall be brought into subjection to the blessed 
Saviour, the Inferior animals shall also be restored to that 
state of submissive docility in which they originally were 
in Eden's garden, when, Heaven-directed, they came to 
Adam, each and all, to receive their names. Then shall 
their mutual antipathies be destroyed, and harmonious as- 
sociation with man restored — a felicity which shall extend 
to the various tribes of beasts, birds, and creeping things. 

This is represented to us by the Prophet Hosea, as the 
result of " a covenant" made by the Lord in favour of His 
people, when he shall have taken away their transgres- 
sions : " And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord," 
referring to the period of their restoration, " 'that thou 
shalt call me Ishi, [my man-husband ;] and shalt call me 
no more Baali, [my lordly husband,] for I will take away 
the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no 
more be remembered by their name. And in that day 



64 



GENERAL FELICITY OF 



[Sect. X. 



will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the 
field, and with the fowls of heaven ; and with the creep- 
ing things of the ground; and I will break the bow, and 
the sword, and the battle, out of the earth, and will make 
them to lie down safely/' Hos. ii 16 — 18. The evil 
propensities of man, and the antipathies of the lower crea- 
tion will be destroyed together " in that day." So, it is 
elsewhere predicted, in the Millennial day men " shall 
beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into 
pruning-hooks ; nation shall not lift up a sword against 
nation, neither shall they learn war any more/' And in 
the prediction before us, it is the promise of the Lord that 
when the time of his " covenant" with the inferior animals 
in favour of his people shall arrive, He shall also " break 
the bow and the sword and the battle" from the earth. In-* 
struments of war shall be rendered unnecessary as war 
itself will not be practised. Neither will " the bow' be 
handled against the lower creation. God having made a 
covenant with them, " for " his people, so also will he 
break the bow that these animals may be allowed to "lie 
down safely!' But if they are to be secure against the 
aggressions of men, so also will the peace and safety of 
men be uninterrupted by their attacks, and un threatened 
by their opposition. God's covenant is "with" them, 
"for" his people This covenant is not confined to one 
class of animals, but embraces at once "the beasts of the 
field/' " the Jowls of heaven," and " the creeping things 
of the ground." All the tribes which men are made to fear, 
are thus included. How perfectly distinct is the prediction ! 
yet its truths are disbelieved. Beasts, birds, and reptiles, 
are all supposed by many to be only "wicked men." 
But God makes no "covenant" with " wicked men." On 
the contrary, He every where threatens to destroy them. 
x\nd it deserves to be noticed how precise is the language 
employed above. He will "make a covenant" with the 
lower creation — beautifully expressive at once of their con- 
tinued existence, and the cessation of their enmity ; but 
the instruments of war and of cruelty He threatens to 
"break" "out of the earth!' They shall altogether 
cease to have existence. 

A similar prediction, concerning the same time and ex- 
pressing more fully the change upon the natures of the 



Sect. X.] THE INFERIOR CREATION. 65 

Inferior Animals, is given by the prophet Isaiah : " And 
there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and 
a branch shall grow out of His roots. . . . and righteousness 
shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle 
of His reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and 
the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf, and 
the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child 
shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed ; 
their young ones shall lie down together ; and the lion 
shall eat straw like the ox, and the sucking child shall 
play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put 
his hand on the cockatrice' [adder's, marg.~\ den. They shall 
not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain ; for the earth 
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover 
the sea," Is. xi. 1 — 9. In the prophecy already con- 
sidered, it is predicted that the various animals shall " He 
down safely." This might have been considered as proof 
of the destruction of their mutual antipathies toward each 
other, as well as that of their fear of and enmity to man ; for 
unless the former were also removed, they could not lie 
down " safely! 1 But in the prediction last quoted, their 
mutual cordiality is explicitly foretold- The meekest and 
the most ferocious, the least suspecting and the most 
crafty, the unresisting and the most courageous — all mingle 
here in harmonious concert. The ravening wolf shall 
cease to injure the innocent lamb, and the forest-prowl- 
ing leopard to tear the kid ; the cow and the bear shall 
graze together ; and the king of the forest, no longer glut- 
ting in blood, shall partake of oxen's food ; the venom- 
ous asp and adder shall become harmless, and children 
without dread engage them in sport.~And how beautifully 
introduced is the reason of all this : " For the earth shall 
he full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover 
the sea." As the sin of man, in departing from the living 
God, was the cause of all the discordance introduced into 
this lower world, so when he is brought again to the al- 
legiance due to his Maker — when the knowledge of the 
Lord shall become universal, and man everywhere sub- 
mits to the sceptre of His Son- — then shall the curse of 
enmity be removed, and all be restored to happiness and 
peace. As man's rebellion unfitted him for properly ex- 
ercising power over the Inferior creation — when he would 

F 



66 



GENERAL FELICITY OF 



[Sect. X. 



have employed them in unhallowed subserviency to the 
execution of his own rebellious schemes against the Most 
High — then was he deprived of his hitherto unlimited 
authority ; the submission of all was rendered reluctant, 
and the fealty of many absolutely refused. But when the 
power of the First and Great Seducer is destroyed from the 
earth, when the reign of universal holiness has commenced; 
and when, by cordial attachment to God through His Son, 
man shall have become fit to be again entrusted with 
primeval authority, under Christ he shall again stand forth 
as the honoured and acknowledged lord of all the inferior 
creation. 

Notwithstanding of its particularity however, the above 
prediction is also supposed to foretell merely a great change 
on the dispositions of men. Every thing stands opposed to 
such an opinion, and we cannot discover a single circum- 
stance from which it derives the slightest support. The 
very fact into which the whole prediction is thus explained, 
is itself included as a separate and distinct fart of it. 
There is, therefore, no reason for substituting the destruc- 
tion of wicked men from the earth, for the change upon 
the natures of these animals, both being equally predicted. 
Besides what we have already quoted concerning the wolf 
and the lamb, &c. of the Branch it is predicted only two 
verses before, that " with the breath of his lips shall He 
slay the wicked! 1 ver. 4. What need is there then of sup- 
posing that all the promises which follow, concerning 
the inferior animals, mean nothing else than what is thus 
already predicted in language so distinct and appropriate ? 
The substitution becomes the more unwarrantable too, 
from the fact of this change being expressly predicted as 
a circumstance additional, both to the destruction of the 
wicked and the righteous reign of the Branch : " With 
righteousness shall tie judge the poor, and reprove with 
equity for the meek of the earth ; and He shall smite the 
earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of 
his lips shall he slay the tvicked : and righteousness shall 
be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girldle of his 
reins ; the ivolf also shall dwell with the lamb" &c. It 
is thus evident, that both do not mean the same thing; but 
that when the one shall take place, so " also " shall the 
other. The truth that the wicked shall then be slain, 



Sect. X.] THE INFERIOR CREATION. 



67 



rests on no higher authority than does that of the change 
upon the natures of the animals mentioned. 

A similar prediction is given by Isaiah, towards the close 
of his prophecy, in which one additional circumstance is 
introduced : " The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, 
and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock ; and dust 
shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor 
destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord/' Is. Ixv. 
25. In neither of the preceding quotations was the food 
of the serpent noticed. From this, we are informed that 
" dust " alone is assigned to it. This was part of the curse 
originally pronounced upon the serpent as the instrument 
of man's fall. While therefore the effects of sin, in entailing 
upon the creatures a spirit of enmity, shall then cease to 
operate, a stigma is still left upon one of them. The feel- 
ing of enmity to man and to other animals is to be taken 
away, even from the serpent tribe ; but, probably as a re- 
membrancer of its having been the instrument employed by 
Satan in beguiling the mother of all, the serpent is doomed 
to feed on dust during that dispensation in which the Evil 
One himself shall be chained, incapable of practising his 
wiles on man. And does not this peculiarity also indicate 
the fact of these animals being really referred to ? But 
those who spiritualize, as it is called, all the predictions 
concerning the inferior animals attend little to such distinc- 
tions. Even accurate classification is wholly overlooked, 
when they equally convert into men of one character 
and disposition all the " beasts of the field, and the fowls 
of heaven, and the creeping things of the ground." Al- 
though every circumstance indicates their being designed to 
be understood in their natural sense, the lion and the leo- 
pard, the wolf and the bear ; the ox, the cow, and the 
calf; even the asp and the cockatrice are all transformed 
with ease ; and, however dissimilar in their natures and 
habits, all become men of holy character and harmless dis- 
positions. Consistency would require that the little children 
too. whether weaned or only at the mother s breast, for whom 
these animals will, by the predicted change, be rendered 
safe play-mates, should also be made to grow to the perfect 
stature of harmless manhood. The circumstance of chil- 
dren being introduced into the prophecy, and that in con- 
tradistinction both to lions and lambs, to leopards and kids, 

f2 



68 



THE REDEEMER^ 



[Sect. XI. 



is additional proof that loth are to be regarded in their 
natural sense, if either be. The whole circumstances form 
evidence sufficient to prove, (if the language of such pre- 
dictions require confirmation,) that upon the natures of the 
Inferior animals, a great, a miraculous change will be 
effected at the Millennial Day.* 



SECTION XI. 
THE REDEEMER'S MILLENNIAL REIGN, 

It has already been seen from some of the preceding pas- 
sages, that during this period of uninterrupted felicity the 
kingdoms of this world will be under the Redeemer's sway. 
By His sufferings and death he has purchased redemption 
for his people, and in our nature obtained from the Father a 
promise of the uttermost parts of the earth for His posses- 
sion. We see not yet, indeed, all things put under him; 
but Jehovah has declared his .decree, and will in due time 
carry it into execution. 

It is not the object of the present Section to prove Christ's 
stay on earth during the Millennium. This being the sub- 
ject of the following Section, we confine ourselves at present 
to the selection of passages in proof of the Saviour's Mil- 
lennial reign. This is explicitly declared in those which 

* As we shall have frequent occasion to controvert the opinions 
advanced by the Rev. Dr. Hamilton of Strathblane, in his recent 
publication against Millenarianism, we owe it to him here to 
mention, that although he tumultuously opposes the doctrine of 
Christ's Personal reign, he seems also to reject all the ordinary 
work of transformation of the inferior animals. Viewing the 
predictions in their natural sense, he says, (p. 69,) they 
M evidently imply that both the human race and the brute crea- 
tion are to be then preserved, and that it [the Millennium] 
is to be a period of uncommon felicity to man and beast" But it 
is not easy to reconcile this miraculous restoration of the natures 
of the inferior animals to the pacific state in which they were before 
the fall, with his opinion (p. 134) that the Millennium, in which 
this wonder will be witnessed, is to be realized by the mere " ge- 
neral diffusion of religious knowledge and prevalence of Christian 
principles.' ' The Scriptures are silent as to the mode of this change 
of nature, but that it must be miraculous requires no proof to show. 
It is one of the many wonderful displays of love which Christ the 
God of nature will make at His return. 



Sect. XL] 



MILLENNIAL REIGN. 



69 



follow. " And in the days of these kings shall the God 
of heaven set tip a kingdom which shall never be destroyed ; 
and the kingdom shall ?iot be left to other people, but it 
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and 
it shall stand for ever," Dan. ii. 44. "I saw in the night 
visions ; and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with 
the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and 
they brought Him near before Him. And there was given 
Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, 
nations, and languages, should serve him. His dominion is 
an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and 
His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. . . . And 
the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the king- 
dom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people 
of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an ever- 
lasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey 
Him." Dan. vii. 13, 14, 27. In these verses we have de- 
clared the future setting up of a heavenly kingdom — a king- 
dom established by God himself, and which " shall not be 
left to other people.' ' Though celestial in its origin, and 
having its government committed to the Son of Man, and 
administered by His saints, it is still on the earth, being 
" under " the heaven. It is, however, universal, being 
" under the whole heaven," and includes " all dominions." 
The time of its establishment, and the manner of Christ's 
coming are here also introduced, but these being subjects of 
future consideration, we do not now advert to either. 

This is a theme frequently touched, and not unfrequent- 
ly dwelt upon by all the inspired bards. In the following 
Psalm, as in many others, it has blended with it the Res- 
toration of Israel, whose song of triumph on that occasion 
it evidently is : "-O clap your hands all ye people, shout 
unto God with the voice of triumph ; for the Lord Most 
High is terrible ; He is a great King over all the earth. He 
shall subdue the people under us, [Israel,] and the nations 
[by whom they have been oppressed] under our feet. He 
shall choose our inheritance for us, [alluding probably to 
the New Division of the Holy Land,] the excellency of 
Jacob whom he loved. Selah. God is gone up with 
a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. [His 
triumphal approach.] Sing praises to God, sing praises. 
Sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the 

f 3 



70 



THE REDEEMER'S 



[Sect. XI. 



King of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding. 
God reign eth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the 
throne of his holiness. The princes of the people are gath- 
ered together, even the people of the God of Abraham ; for 
the shields of the earth belong unto God ; He is greatly ex- 
alted.'* Ps. xlvii. The restoration of Israel appears to be 
expressed in these "princes'" being "gathered together/' 
The term " Israel," which signifies "a Prince with God,'' was 
given to Jacob when, at Peniel, " as a prince he had power 
over the Angel and prevailed." The name was afterwards 
applied to his descendants, " the people of the God of 
Abraham," the " princes" apparently, in the above psalm, 
which clearly refers to Christ's Millennial Rei°;n. 

God is pledged in covenant to David to give this king- 
dom to his seed, Christ : " I have made a covenant with 
my chosen ; I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy 
seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all 
generations. . . . x\lso I will make Him, my first-born, higher 
than the kings of the earth. . . . Once have I sworn by my 
holiness that I will not lie unto David. His Seed shall 
endure for ever, and His throne as the sun before me. It 
shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful 
witness in heaven." Ps. lxxxix. 3 — 37. 

In other predictions, this promise is intimately connected 
with the Restoration of Israel : " Behold the days come, 
saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which 
I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house 
of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will T cause the 
Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David, and He 
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In 
those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell 
safely ; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, 
The Lord our Righteousness. For thus saith the Lord, 
David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of 
the house of Israel ; neither shall the priests, the Levites, 
want a man before me to offer burnt- offerings, and to kindle 
meat-offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. . . . Thus 
saith the Lord, If ye can break my covenant of the day, 
and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be 
day and night in their season ; then may also my covenant 
Joe broken with David my servant, that he should not have 



Sect. XL] 



MILLENNIAL REIGN. 



71 



a son to reign upon his throne* and with the Levites the 
priests my ministers/' Jer. xxxiii. J 4 — 21. This last part 
of the prediction belongs properly to a subsequent Section 
on the rebuilding of the temple, in which will be shown 
God's purpose of sacrifice being continued during the Mil- 
lennium. 

This King, the son of David and the Branch of Righteous- 
ness, is evidently no other than Christ Himself; but this is 
still more obvious from the following : "For unto us a Child 
is born ; unto us a Son is given ; and the government shall be 
vpon His shoulders ; and his name shall be called Wonder- 
ful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, 
[Father of the everlasting age,] the Prince of Peace. Of 
the increase of his government and peace there shall be no 
end, upon the throne of David* and upon his kingdom, to 
order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice, 
from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of 
Hosts will perform this." Is. ix. 6, 7. "Behold the days 
come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a right- 
eous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and 
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His 
days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely, 
and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE 
LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. 

* The Examinator in the Christian Instructor, already referred 
to, admits that " the tabernacle of God is to dwell with men, and the 
Son of David is to sit and rule on David's throne, in a sense that has 
not yet been accomplished." (page 476.) But we see no sense in 
which this can be fulfilled but literally. For, if he should say that 
nothing more is meant by this expression than that the influences 
of the Holy Spirit shall be plentifully shed upon the souls of men, 
we reply that this is no new sense, and we must then conclude, that 
the Son of David now sits and rules on David's throne, since every 
believer does enjoy these influences — to say nothing of the manifest 
impropriety of calling the souls of believers the throne of David. 
We do not see how it can, in any sense, be said, that the Me- 
diator, by a continued residence in heaven, either sits or rules on 
David's throne, which was upon the earth. This appears to be amis- 
application of language not to be imputed to the blessed Spirit, and 
very different from that admirable precision which characterizes the 
Holy Scriptures. It is to take a latitude of spiritualizing by which 
the most obvious meaning of any passage in Holy Writ may be ex- 
plained away, or its meaning perverted to sanction the grossest 
heresies. 



72 REDEEMER'S PRESENCE ON EARTH [Sect. XII. 



SECTION XII. 

THE REDEEMER'S PRESENCE ON EARTH DURING 
THE MILLENNIUM. 

In some of the foregoing passages, the coming of the Son 
of Man is announced, and in others His presence on earth 
is fully implied, although we have hitherto abstained from 
comment upon them. This, however, we shall now en- 
deavour to prove by the quotation of predictions in which 
it is expressly promised : " Sing, O daughter of Zion ; shout, 
O Israel ; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter 
of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, 
He hath cast out thine enemy. The King of Israel, even 
the Lord, is in the midst of thee ; thou ahalt not see evil 
any more." Zeph. iii. 14, 15. This is the literal Israel 
who are to be brought " from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia." 
ver. 10. It is also their future restoration, after which they 
shall " not see evil any more." The King of Israel spoken 
of is "even the Lord, 7 ' who shall then be "in the midst" 
of them. Nor is this to be explained into their conversion 
which is also predicted : " the remnant of Israel shall not 
do iniquity i." ver. 13. Does not the prediction intimate 
that when the Lord's judgments on Israel are past, their 
enemies cast out, and their transgressions pardoned, and 
they shall see no more evil, when, in short, the Millennium 
arrives, that then the Lord Jesus will indeed dwell upon 
the earth, and be " the King of Israel"? 

In the following prediction of the prophet Zechariah, the 
coming of the Saviour and his continuance on earth 
appear to be explicitly foretold: "Sing and rejoice, 
O daughter of Zion : for lo ! I come, and I will 
dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many 
nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall 
be my people : and I will dwell in the midst of thee ; and 
thou shall k?iow that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me 
unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion 
in the -Holy Land, and shall choose Jerusalem again!' 
Zech. ii. 10 — 12. Israel, "the daughter of Zion," is called 
to rejoice for the coming of the Lord. Nor does this seem 
capable of being understood in any other sense than of a 



Sect. XII.] 



DURING THE MILLENNIUM. 



73 



'personal coming, " the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto 
thee. v Having been sent He will dwell with them " in the 
Holy Land." Such circumstances seem fully to imply His 
personal presence. It points also to his former rejection, 
when they refused to recognize Him as their Messiah, they 
shall now " know" that he is the " sent" of the Lord. The 
conversion of " many nations" is here also foretold, not as 
either the coming of the Lord or his after dwelling with 
them, but as additional to and consequent of it : " And many 
nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall 
be my people." 

Again, by the same prophet, " Thus saith the Lord, I 
am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of 
Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called, a city of Truth, 
and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, The Holy Moun- 
tain." Zech. viii. 3. To " return" to a place implies not 
merely having been formerly in it, but also an intervening 
absence from it. This promise cannot therefore apply to 
the church, from which God is never absent. Applied to 
the personal presence of the Lord Jesus, its language is cha- 
racterized by propriety as well as condescension. In human 
nature he has already been in Zion, and His coming to it 
a^ain will therefore be a " return." There will then be a 
great change too in the character of the city. The contrasted 
permanence of His future residence may also be pointed out 
in the expression He " will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem." 

The Coming of the Saviour, and His abode with 
His people, is the frequent theme of Inspired Psalmody : 
" Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion ; for 
the time to favour her is come. For thy servants take 
pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof. So the 
heathen shall fear the Name of the Lord, and all the kings 
of the earth thy glory. When the Lord shall build up 
Zion, He shall appear in his glory." Ps. cii. 13 — 16. 
" Blessed be the Lord out of Zion who dwelleth at Jerusa- 
lem." Ps. cxxxv. 21. In the first of these it is promised 
that at the restoration of Israel, " when the Lord shall build 
up Zion," that He shall then " appear," not as when form- 
erly he tabernacled on earth, but in " His glory." His ap- 
pearance in humility was shortly before the destruction of 
Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, but when Zion shall be 
again built up, "He shall appear in his glory." He shall 



74 



REDEEMER S PRESENCE ON EARTH [Sect. XII. 



then dwell " at Jerusalem." This expression appears 
quite inconsistent with the notion that " Jerusalem" is the 
church; To dwell at Jerusalem plainly implies that it is, 
in this instance, the place rather than the people that is 
spoken of.* 

The practice of applying all such predictions to the pre- 
sence of the Holy Spirit with the church, and as figurative 
expressions of the conversion of Israel, is unauthorized and 
quite unnecessary. The conversion of Israel is no doubt 
frequently foretold by the Hebrew prophets, and figurative 
expressions denoting their regeneration are indeed used in 
Prophecy, as may be seen in the Section on the Conver- 

• So full of these doctrines are the Songs of Zion that their re- 
vival has poured a flood of light upon our Psalmody; and perhaps 
the unwarrantable substitution of uninspired hymns and paraphrases 
in worship, is to be attributed to the suppression of these truths. 
The disbelief of the doctrine of our Lord's Millennial Reign, and 
others connected with it, has occasioned much obscurity, although 
the difficulty of reconciling some of these sacred compositions with 
our notions of the gospel, ought long ago to have excited a suspicion 
of our departure from the primitive faith. There is evidently some- 
thing wrong in the principle which has led some churches to the 
almost regular exclusion of these heavenly songs for the effusions 
of erring men. Had our collection of psalmody — originally in- 
spired and designed for praise by the Holy Spirit, and afterwards 
collected and arranged under divine superintendence — been either 
inapplicable, or been found imperfect for Christian worship, 
another collection would doubtless have been made by Christ or his 
apostles. At least, it may be presumed, directions would have 
been given for completing the canon of praise when the greater spi- 
rituality, and wisdom, and refinement of the Church had rendered ad- 
ditions indispensable or expedient. But such a lack appears neither 
to have been felt nor anticipated in the primitive church with respect 
to the number or fitness of the Psalms for Christian worship. It 
was left to an age of higher attainments to discover and supply this 
great omission of the Author and Finisher of our faith. — But how 
careful ought Christians to be that they do not transgress by adding 
to that which the wisdom of the Spirit considered already complete, 
and by exchanging those holy songs, which they know to be in ac- 
cordance with the will of God, for hymns and paraphrases which 
they may sometimes have reason to suspect of doubtful orthodoxy. 
The greater elegance of the poetry is an inadequate compensation 
for the loss sustained by the exchange ; for, even in cases where the 
original Psalm may be obscured in our translation, and where the 
critic's eye may detect a want of taste, there are still left a glory and 
a dignity which bear down every lesser fault, and impart to the 
believer a higher relish than the mere charms of poetry could ever 
yield. 



Sect. XII.] 



DURING THE MILLENNIUM. 



75 



sion of Israel ; but the figures used are perfectly appro- 
priate, and are obviously so. The taking out of them the 
stony heart, and giving to them an heart of flesh, is a figure 
— the icashing them as with clean water is a figure — the 
opening of a fountain for sin and for uncleanness is a figure 
— the putting His law in their inward parts, and writing it 
in their hearts, are figures — the pouring upon them a spirit of 
grace and of supplications is a figure. All of these are figures, 
and of such a nature as not to be misunderstood. They 
express unequivocally the idea of conversion, a blessing 
which our Second Section proves to be also the subject of 
abundant promises in which no figure is used. Why, then, 
must the promises of the coming of the Lord be also sup- 
posed to predict what is thus so fully and plainly declared? 
There is no need for the assumption. In most cases, it can 
only create a mere redundancy of expression, and it is alto- 
gether inconsistent with the languange of many of the pre- 
dictions in which that coming and presence are announced. 

" Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great 
is the holy one of Israel in the midst of thee!' Is. xii. 6. 
" For the children of Israel shall abide many days with- 
out a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, 
and without an image, and without an ephod, and without 
teraphim. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return 
and seek the Lord their God, and The Beloved their 
King : and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the 
latter days." Hos. iii. 4, 5. It has been a literal " king" 
and " prince" that the children of Israel have so long been 
without, and this want is to be supplied by " The Beloved" 
himself becoming "their King." This prediction contains 
also a distinct promise of their conversion, for they shall then 
" fear the Lord ;" and this shall be " in the latter days." 

tftf Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, 
and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is 
with him, and his work before him." Is. xl. 10. " And 
ye shall know that / am in the midst 6f Israel, and that I 
am the Lord your God, and none else, and my people 
shall never be ashamed." Joel ii. 27. " So shall ye know 
that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy 
mountain ; then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall 
no strangers pass through her any more, .... but Judah 
shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to 



76 



REDEEMER^ PRESENCE ON EARTH [Sect. XII. 



generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not 
cleansed ; for the Lord dwelleth in Zion." Joeliii. 17, 20, 21. 

On this subject, instead of connecting and comparing 
Scripture with Scripture, in order to obtain its combined 
evidence, it has been more usual to assume that Christ will 
not reign personally upon earth, and then to endeavour by 
any means to explain all these passages, as they individually 
occur, consistently with the view^s entertained. Even with 
this resolution it must occasionally prove difficult really to 
believe that some of the preceding promises mean nothing 
more than the universal prevalence of holiness, and the 
greater effusion of the Holy Spirit, while the Redeemer 
still remains in heaven. And if such an accommodation 
prove inadmissible, as an explanation of declarations so 
explicit as have been already quoted, there are others which 
still less admit of any spiritual interpretation. In a most 
important and interesting prediction clearly referring to 
future times, the prophet Isaiah says, " Behold the Lord 
rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: 
and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and 
the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it .... In 
that day shall Egypt be like unto women ; and it shall be 
afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the 

Lord of Hosts which he shaketh over it In that day 

shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land 
of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. 
And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord 
of Hosts in the land of Egypt ; for they shall cry unto the 
Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a 
Saviour, and a Great One, and He shall deliver them. 
And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians 
shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and 
oblation ; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord and 
perform it." Is. xix. 1, 16, 19, 20, 21. 

The connection in which the coming of the Lord here 
stands to the conversion of Egypt leaves no doubt of its 
being yet unfulfilled ; while the expressions used seem only 
applicable to a personal coming. It is while groaning under 
the yoke of earthly " oppressors," the prayer is addressed to 
the Lord for deliverance; when they have been given "into 
the hand of a cruel lord, and a fierce king shall rule over 
them.'" ver. 4. Their prayer is answered, for the Lord 



Sect. XII.] DURING THE MILLENNIUM. 



77 



"shall send them a Saviour/' who is the Lord, and shall 
come riding upon " a swift cloud" and ie shall deliver them" 
from that oppression. How is it possible to interpret this 
of any other than a personal coming of the Saviour ? The 
manner of His coming — upon a "cloud" — corresponds 
exactly with the prediction given by Himself concerning his 
Return : " Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in 
a cloud with power and great glory;" (Luke xxi. 27.) and 
which was subsequently repeated by attendant angels at His 
ascension in the cloud : " shall so come in like manner as 
ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts i. 11.) In neither 
of these, nor in any other New Testament prediction, have 
we any intimation of the place to which he shall descend ; 
and it is to be observed that the prediction under consider- 
ation is the only one the Scriptures contain of the Saviour's 
coming in, or on, or with a cloud, or clouds, to any specific 
place. But if He ever comes to earth again, (and there 
are few indeed who doubt or question this,) it must be to 
some place. Why then disbelieve the fact, that on this 
swift cloud, He " shall come into Egypt ?" This was the 
theatre of God's early wonders in behalf of his ancient 
people, and His coming thither at this time is, probably 
connected with their future deliverance.* *In the prophecy, 

* Moses thus concludes his prophecy of their dispersion and suf- 
ferings : "And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, 
by the way whereof I spake unto thee ; thou shalt see it no more 
again : and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bond-men 
and bond-women, and no man shall buy you." Deut. xxviii. 68. 
Although well aware that this is supposed to have been fulfilled 
when many of t\ie Jews were carried into Egypt by Titus, still we 
apprehend the prediction refers to future times. It stands in or- 
der posterior to all the threatenings of their being scattered into 
all nations — they are to be brought to Egypt in ships, a mode of 
conveyance not adopted by Titus, so far as we remember to have 
noticed — they are to be sold, until men refuse to buy them ; but al- 
though, after their captivity by Titus, they were employed in Egypt 
at the public works of the Roman government, we do not know 
that they were " sold" at all. There are many of the Jews still in 
Egypt, nearly eighteen hundred years after that captivity, but from 
a parenthetical clause in the prophecy of Moses, we are led to con- 
clude that when thus brought thither in ships they shall not long 
continue : " Thou shalt see it no more again." — And that there is 
some connection between Israel and Egypt, at the restoration of 
the former, appears from many prophecies. On the consideration 
of these, however, we do not enter. If we believe that the Lord has 
really been pleased to declare his purpose of coming to Egypt, in 
preference to any where else, His wisdom being infinite his sov- 
ereignty is not to be questioned, although we may not know fully 
His more particular designs. 



78 REDEEMER'S PRESENCE ON EARTH [Sect. XII. 

" the land of Judah" is introduced, as " a terror unto Egypt 
(ver. 17.) and in what way the circumstances of Israel may 
yet be involved with those of Egypt, it is impossible to say. 

The prophets predict great sufferings as to be endured 
by the children of Israel after their Restoration to Pales- 
tine, from the attack of confederated nations. In their time 
of affliction and necessity, the Lord promises to manifest 
Himself for their succour. This is briefly but distinctly 
declared by the prophet Zechariah : " Behold, the day of 
the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the 
midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jeru- 
salem to battle ; and the city shall be taken, and the houses 
rifled, and the women ravished ; and half of the city shall 
go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall 
not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go 
forth and fight against those nations, as when he fought in 
the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day 
upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on 
the east • and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst 
thereof, toward the east and toward the west, and there shall 
be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall re- 
move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 
And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains ; for the 
valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal : yea, ye 
shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the 
days of Uzziah king of Judah ; and the Lord my God 
shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall 
come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor 
dark ; but it shall be one day which shall be known to 
the Lord, not day nor night ; but it shall come to pass 
that at evening-time it shall be light." Zech. xiv. 1 — 7. 

This prediction is not more remarkable for the importance 
of its statements than for the particularity with which they 
are given. It has more the appearance of a narrative of 
past events than of a prophecy of things to come. It is 
really vexatious to be under a necessity of endeavouring to 
elucidate the meaning of language already as distinct as 
words can make it. It is mortifying to be compelled to in- 
sist that the Jerusalem here spoken of is the literal city of 
that name — that it is a real attack it shall sustain, and a 
real capture it shall endure — that (( the mount of Olives 
which is before Jerusalem on the east" is the literal mount 



Sect. XII.] 



DURING THE MILLENNIUM. 



79 



of that name — that it is a natural or more properly speaking 
a miraculous earthquake by which it shall be cleft, and a 
real flight by which it is followed. All this appears so ob- 
vious, that we feel puzzled how to attempt to prove it ; for, 
if its own internal evidence cannot be received as sufficient, 
we should despair of ever finding any other more satisfac- 
tory. Is not that a literal city which contains "people," 
and "women," and "houses," and against which "nations" 
are gathered to " battle?" And if this be the literal "Jer- 
usalem," can that be any thing else than the literal 
" Mount of Olives" which is, and always has been, " before 
Jerusalem on the east?" If this be the literal mount, then 
is not that also a literal " earthquake" by which it is rent, re- 
sembling that which took place in the days of Uzziah ? And if 
all these be literal, What can we understand by the Lord's 
feet standing upon the literal Mount of Olives, but the fact of 
His Personal presence, His premillennial appearance to take 
into His own hands the government of the world? — "And 
the Lord shall be King over all the earth ; in that day shall 
there be one Lord, and His name one/' ver. 9. Nor does 
He come alone, but having " all the saints with thee"— 
the very truth declared in almost every passage of the New 
Testament concerning the Saviour's Return. It is no spirit- 
ual, no figurative advent which has such an accompani- 
ment, but the real personal coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ* 

Referring to the restoration of Israel, the Lord says, " I 
will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, 
even my servant The Beloved ; he shall feed them, and 
he shall be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be their 

* In his 44 Fall of Babylon," (p. 44,) Mr. Mason quotes the 
above passage as the account of a literal or 44 natural earthquake f l 
but in his Gentiles' Fulness, (p. 201 ,) combating the opinion that 
the coming of the Lord with all His saints is His personal advent, 
he unhesitatingly rejects the interpretation he had himself thus 
given, and denies that the earthquake is to be 44 literally under- 
stood." This way of explaining the ancient pi-edictions^ he there 
says, (forgetting his own recorded explanation,) 44 must be rejected 
as a very false interpretation of Scripture, and as an unwarrantable 
and dangerous way of exhibiting Divine operations." Putting con- 
sistency out of the question, is there not, we would ask, something 
both 64 unwarrantable and dangerous," in thus moulding Divine 
predictions to our taste or convenience ? 

g2 



80 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



[Sect. XIII. 



God, and my servant The Beloved a Prince among 
them : I the Lord have spoken it." Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. 
" Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, 
when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in 
Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. " Is. xxiv. 
23. Such quotations might easily be multiplied, in proof 
of Christ's presence on earth during the Millennium; but 
we shall now allude to only one other point of evidence : 
The prophet Ezekiel having seen the measurements taken 
of the temple to be erected in Jerusalem, and which forms 
the subject of more immediate inquiry in the following Sec- 
tion, he was afterwards brought to " the gate that looketh 
towards the east : and, behold, the Glory of the God of 
Israel came from the way of the east ; and His voice was 
like a noise of many waters; and the earth shined with 
His glory. . . .And the Glory of the Lord came into the 
House, by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the 
east. . . .And He said unto me, Son of man, the place of 
my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I 
will dwell An the midst of the children of Israel for ever, 
and my holy name shall the house of Israel no more de- 
file, neither they nor their kings.... Now let them put 
away their whoredom and the carcases of their kings far 
from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever." 
Ezek. xliii. 1 — 9. " Then he brought me back the way 
of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward 
the east, and it was shut. Then said the Lord unto me, 
This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no MAN 
shall enter in by it; because the Lord the God of Israel 
hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut!' Ezek. 
xliv. 1, 2. An altar of wood was also shown to the pro- 
phet in the temple, when it was said to him, " This is the 
able that is before the Lord." Ezek. xli. 22. 



SECTION XIII. 

THE TEMPLE REBUILT. - 

In the prophecies, allusion is often made to, and predic- 
tions given concerning, a splendid temple which is yet to be 



Sect. XIII.] 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



81 



erected in Jerusalem, and to the worship to be offered in it. 
We offer no conjecture on the probable design for which 
the institution of sacrifice is again to be restored during the 
Millennial age, which must have a Prospective view to 
the death of Him who " has given himself for us an offer- 
ing and a sacrifice to God," as those under the former dis- 
pensation were prospective, Of this nature is the Lord's 
Supper, and it is in remembrance of Christ till He come ; 
but whether it is then to be superseded by the institution of 
sacrifice, we pretend not to determine. But that sacrifice 
shall yet be offered to the Lord is so unequivocally fore- 
told as leaves no doubt on our mind of its truth. Part of 
this evidence we shall endeavour to submit, unrestrained 
by the tide of prejudice which is known to exist upon the 
subject. Believing the word of God to be of supreme au- 
thority, we unhesitatingly appeal to its statements as evi- 
dence the value of which the opinions of men will never 
diminish, and our faith in which their opposition should never 
induce us to forego. " Moreover, I will make a covenant of 
peace with them, and I will place them, and multiply them, 
and I will set my Sanctuary in the midst of them for ever- 
more. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will 
be their God, and they shall be my people. And the hea- 
then shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when 
my Sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore!' 
Ezek. xxxvii. 26 — 28. This is the conclusion of the pro- 
phecy in which the future union of the two kingdoms of 
the literal Tsrael and Judah is symbolically represented by 
the joining of the " two sticks/' after which " they shall be 
no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two 
kingdoms any more at all ; neither shall they defile them- 
selves any more with their idols from which time The 
Beloved " shall be their Princejfor ever!' ver. 22, 23, 25. 
That it relates to future times is therefore obvious ; while it 
also explicitly declares the re-erection of God's Sanctuary 
among them. And when thus rebuilt, it shall not again be 
thrown down, but shall continue "evermore." 

By the prophet Isaiah, the Lord declares, that the glory 
of Lebanon shall be used in ornamenting this His House : 
" The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee [Zion]; the fir- 
tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the 
place of my Sanctuary, and I will make the place of my 

g3 



82 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



[Sect. XIII. 



feet glorious!' Is. Ix. 13. In considering the context at 
large, we have already endeavoured to show its application to 
the literal Israel, and its reference to Millennial times. For 
what other Sanctuary than a literal one can such materials 
be used ? The particular trees here specified are trees high 
in estimation both for utility and ornament, and are there- 
fore adapted to " beautify" a literal Temple, 

The second temple was greatly inferior to the first in splen- 
dour, as we read (Ezra hi. 12), " Many of the priests, and 
Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that 
had seen the First House, when the foundation of this House 
was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice." And 
concerning it, the Lord says to Israel, by the prophet 
Haggai, " Who is left among you that saw this House in 
her first glory? And how do you see it now ? Is it not in 
your eyes in comparison of it as nothing ?" Hag. ii. 3. 
But he comforts them with the promise of one which shall 
excel the First : " For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet 
once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and 
the earth, and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake 
all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come, and 
I will Jill this House with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. 
The silver and the gold are mine, saith the Lord of hosts ; 
The glory of this latter House shall be greater than the 
former, saith the Lord of hosts : and in this place will I 
give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." ver. 6—9. The De- 
sire of all nations, it is universally admitted, is here used as 
a title descriptive of the Saviour ; and the prophecy is gen- 
erally referred to the period of His First Advent, although 
the commentators have laboured under the utmost difficulty 
to make the prophecy accord with such an interpretation. 
The fact they cannot deny, that the Second temple was 
much inferior in splendour to the First. This difficulty 
they seek to evade by departing from the material glory of 
the First, and referring to the moral glory of Christ having 
been in the Second as a Teacher. But this is not only to 
destroy altogether the prophet's contrast, but also to -over- 
look the fact that the prophecy itself marks its reference to 
this very point. When it is said, " the glory of this latter 
House shall be greater than the former," we would na- 
turally understand the prediction to refer to the same kind 
>of glory, the difference consisting not in the nature, but in 



Sect. XIII.] 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



83 



the degree of it; and that, therefore, if it was a material 
glory in the one case, that so it would be in the other. 
And this view is confirmed, when we observe that it was in 
the same respect that the Second House was inferior to the 
First. To this natural comparison between the First and 
Third House we are, moreover, limited by the language 
of the prophecy itself. By it we are taught that to the 
material superiority of the latter House the prophet really 
does refer .: " The silver and the gold are mine, saith the 
Lord," — and He says so only in reference to the glorifying 
of this Latter House. It is therefore a glory, to the increase 
of which these precious metals can contribute, which is here 
spoken of. This was the kind of glory in which the First 
Temple far excelled the Second, and it is the glory in 
which the latter will be greater than even the former : 
" the silver and the gold are mine, saith the Lord." In 
addition, however, to this material superiority, the Lord 
promises to "fill this house with glory" — a promise which 
evidently refers to the glory in which He will manifest Him- 
self, and is altogether distinct from that glory of the First 
temple, in comparison of which the Second was "as nothing." 

It has also been supposed, from the prophet's speaking of 
the latter temple as (i this House," that he referred only to 
the second temple. But while Haggai expressly speaks of 
the latter, as excelling the former, and speaks of the second 
as greatly inferior even to the first, he views all the three 
as still God's " House!' He does not introduce them as 
distinct Temples, but as ihesa?ne Temple in different states 
and at different times. Thus, of the second Temple he 
asks, " who is left among you that saw this House in her 
first glory ?" Now while he thus views the first and second 
temples, as still the same " House," consistency requires 
that the second and third should also be regarded as iden- 
tical. 

It is farther to be observed that when this temple is 
built, there shall in an eminent degree be "peace" in Pales- 
tine : " and in this place will I give peace , saith the Lord." 
Without insisting on the force of the expression, we would 
merely remark, that it seems rather to belong to that class 
of promises which relate to the Millennial period than 
to any preceding age. That it is to the premillennial ad- 
vent of the Saviour this prophecy refers, appears farther ob- 



84 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



[Sect. XIII. 



vious, from the commotions and changes by which it is 
preceded and accompanied : " I will shake the heavens 
and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake 
all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come/' As 
we shall afterwards have occasion to revert to this prophecy, 
we confine our attention at present to the shaking of all 
nations. At the Saviour's first appearance there was no- 
thing which can with propriety be considered as a fulfilment 
of this extensive prediction. But it corresponds perfectly 
with all the predictions concerning the troublous period of 
the Saviour s premillennial coming ; and in this respect also 
corresponds with his own prediction already referred to. 
His Return is to be at a time of " distress of nations with 
perplexity/' (Luke xxi. 25.) From these various circum- 
stances, the prophecy must be considered as predicting the 
future erection of a Temple, the splendour of which will, 
by the more profuse use of silver and gold, not only excel 
that of the second Temple, which, in the eyes of those who 
had seen the first, was "in comparison of it as nothing 
but which shall transcend the glory even of the first, the re- 
membrance of whose superiority over the second called forth 
their pious regret. 

To this Temple and its ordinances the prophets make 
frequent allusions when speaking' of Millennial times. Such 
is the case in the following prediction by Jeremiah : " For 
thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to sit 
upon the throne of the house of Israel ; neither shall the 
priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt-of- 
ferings and to kindle meat-offerings, and to do sacrifice 
continually" Jer. xxxiii. 17, 18. "Shall never" from 
the period to which the prophecy relates, and this is when 
" Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely ; n 
when the seed of David shall "sit upon the throne of the 
House of Israel, v and the Branch of Righteousness 46 shall 
execute judgment and righteousness in the land." ver. 15, 
16. These are clearly the characteristics of the Millennial 
age ; and from this period the priests shall continually offer 
sacrifice. The temple shall no more thence be thrown 
down, the altar no more defiled. The priests shall 
" do sacrifice continually/' and these sacrifices shall con- 
sist both of " burnt-offerings and meat-offerings." 

But the fullest account which we have of this Temple, and 



Sect. XIII,] 



TEMPLE REBUILT, 



85 



of its ordinances, is contained in that remarkable prophecy 
with which the book of Ezekiel concludes, and to which 
we have repeatedly referred. In it, the size and situation 
of the House are declared, its ground-plan and elevations 
minutely described, its varied ornaments graphically delin- 
eated, its ministering priesthood appointed, and its ritual 
formally prescribed. The account of these occupies several 
chapters, of which the most eminent Antimillennarian com- 
mentators decline giving any exposition, considering them 
as inexplicable; while all admit that they have not hitherto 
met their accomplishment, but refer to future times.* Now 
the great source of the difficulty experienced is, a disbelief 
of the truths these chapters contain. They will not admit 
the re-erection of the Temple, and to those who deny this 
it is not wonderful that a plain declaration of the fact, and 
a minute detail of its circumstances, should appear incom- 
prehensible. But to any who are not prepossessed with an 
opinion of the correctness of a system with which any in- 
terpretation of these chapters must be incompatible, their 
statements will appear remarkably precise. They bear in- 
ternal evidence of being the very directions according to 
which the Temple is to be built and its institutions regulated. 

Some commentators have indeed exercised their wonted 
ingenuity in vainly endeavouring to transform, by the pro- 
cess of syiritualization, all the parts of the building de- 
scribed, and all its enjoined institutions, into something per- 
taining to, and extending over the whole Christian Church. 
This however is a violation of every principle of decorum in the 

* It is due to the eminent Mr Faber to state, that while he strenu- 
ously opposes the doctrine of Christ's personal premillennial ad- 
vent, he does not deny the literal re-erection of the Temple. He even 
goes the length of admitting, that, " during the Millennian period, 
there may possibly shine forth, as of old, the glory of the Shechinah 
in the temple of the restored and converted Jews at Jerusalem. 
To this supposition, as a conjecture '," he continues, "I am not dis- 
inclined : though its truth, I apprehend, is incapable of antecedent 
demonstration. We can only say, that, as various prophecies may 
seem to intimate some such matter : so it would in itself, be perfect- 
ly agreeable to the analogy of the two former dispensations. Pa- 
triarchism and Judaism, each during its earlier period, had the 
permanent glory of the Shechinah. Whence we might infer that 
Christianity, during its best and most triumphant period, would 
not want the same perpetual and sensible attestation of the divine 
presence," Sacred Calender of Prophecy, Vol. Ill, p. 475, 



86 



TEMPLE REBUILT. [Sect. XIII. 



interpretation, and an oversight of the most pointed state- 
ments in the prophecy. It is expressly given to the children of 
Israel, and limited by territorial marks to the land of Pal- 
estine. In vision, the prophet was brought from Babylon 
" into the Land of Israel, " that the Temple, &c. might be 
shown unto him. (Ezek. xl. 2.) He is commanded to declare 
" all that thou seest to the house of Israel." (xl. 4.) Farther, 
" thou son of man, show the House to the house of Israel, 
that they may be ashamed of their iniquities ; and let them 
measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that 
they have done, show them the form of the House, and the 
fashion thereof, and the goings-out thereof, and the com- 
ings-in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordi- 
nances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws 
thereof ; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the 
whole form thereof and all the ordinances thereof, and do 
them." (xliii. 10, 11.) Again, "the Lord said unto me, son j 
of man, ?nark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear 
with thine ears, all that 1 say unto thee concerning all the 
ordinances of the House of the Lord, and all the laws 
thereof, and mark well the entering-in of the House, with 
every going-forth of the Sanctuary. And thou shalt say 
to the rebellious, even to the House of Israel, thus saith the 
Lord God, O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all 
your abominations." (xliv. 5, 6.) From these it is sufficient- 
ly evident that whatever this House may be, it belongs not 
to the Gentile Church, but to the rebellious Israel, when 
they shall cease from all their abominations, and that 
it is to be in the "Land of Israel." And we have accord- 
ingly seen that in the New Division of the Holy Land — 
whose boundaries, as already noticed, are marked by 
known towns, rivers, and seas — space is left to be occu- 
pied by the Sanctuary. Now if that be a real Division 
yet to be made of Palestine, (which we hold to be quite 
incontrovertible,) must not that be a literal Sanctuary which 
requires ground on which to stand? What other mean- 
ing can possibly be attached to the Temple being built in 
a portion of that Holy Oblation of the Land which is 
situated between the lots of Judah and Benjamin, and 
annexed to which is a possession of the priests, which 
" shall be a place for their houses" and the first-fruits of 
which land they shall not be allowed to "sell," "exchange," 



Sect. XIIL] 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



87 



nor "alienate"? (xlviii. 7—23. xlv. 1—4.) Surely if this be 
a literal land, it must be a literal Sanctuary that is built 
upon it.* 

Every thing in the description of the prophet confirms 
the view of its being a literal temple. It is minute and 
circumstantial even to an astonishing degree. Outside the 
House there is to be a wall of "one reed," or about eleven 
feet in height. The several sides of the House are described, 
and their peculiarities are set forth. Its courts, its cham- 
bers, and its porches, are all measured ; the number of these 
chambers, their windows, and their stairs, are enumerated ; 
and the minute particularity is observable, that while to one 
court there are eight steps, in another case the number is 
ox&y seven ; (xl« 26, 31,) and some of "the windows were 
covered! 1 (xli. 16.) This minuteness is indeed maintained 
throughout ; and, among other instances, may be noticed 
the circumstance that the people shall not return through 
the same gate by which they enter, (xlvi. 9.) 

There is a general similarity in the different fronts of the 
House, but in the North side there is this peculiarity, that 
" the chambers and the entries thereof, were by the posts 
of the gates where they washed the burnt-offering. And 
in the porch of the gate, were two tables on this side, and 
two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt-offering, 
and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering. And at the 
side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, 
were two tables ; and on the other side, which was at the porch 
of the gate, were two tables ; four tables were on this side 
and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate : eight 
tables whereupon they slew their sacrifices. And the four 
tables were of hewn stone for the burnt-offering, of a cubit 
and an half long, and a cubit and an half broad, [2 ft. 9 in.] 
and one cubit high, [22 in.] whereupon also they laid the 

* Mr. Mason believes that the Holy Land is yet to be greatly en- 
larged, and points out (Gentiles' Fulness, p. 128,) with much care 
and accuracy its extent, from various passages of the Divine word, 
and among others refers to this vision of Ezekiel. Of the New Divi- 
sion of the Land also, he speaks with perfect confidence, saying, that it 
"must be yet to come." In that division however, a portion of 
land being actually left for the site of the " Sanctuary," it appears 
an inconsistency in Mr. M. to deny its erection. What does he 
suppose is to be the use of that portion of the Holy Oblation where 
" the Sanctuary shall be in the midst of it ?" 



88 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



Sect. XIII.] 



instruments wherewith they slew the burnt-offering and 
the sacrifice. And within were hooks, an hand broad, 
fastened round about ; and upon the tables was the flesh of 
the offering/' (xl. 38 — 43.) Do such descriptions admit 
of any other than a literal interpretation? But farther, 
that which is more properly called the temple, is to be 74 
feetlong ("40 cubits'') by 37 broad ("20 cubits/') The size 
of the Holy of Holies is about 37 feet square : " So he 
measured the length thereof, 20 cubits, and the breadth 20 
cubits before the temple ; and he said unto me, this is the 
Most Holy place.'' (xli. 4.) There is also a series of 90 
chambers, forming three flats: "And the side chambers were 
three, one over another, and 30 in order; and they entered 
into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers 
round about that they might have hold, but they had not 
hold in the wall of the House. And there was an enlarg- 
ing, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers, 
for the winding about of the house went still upward round 
about the house." (xli. 6, 7.) The foundations of these 
chambers is specially noticed: (xli. 8;) "The foundations 
of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits' — 
referring to the size of the sacred cubit here used, being 
" a cubit and a hand breadth," (Ezek. xl. 5.) which make 
22 inches, while the common cubit is reckoned at 18. 
"And before the chambers was a walk, of ten cubits 
breadth [1 9 feet] inward, a way of one cubit ; and their doors 
toward the north. Now the upper chambers were shorter, 
[lower in the roof] for the galleries were higher than these, 
than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building. 
For they were in three stories, but had not pillars as the 
pillars of the courts ; therefore the building was straight- 
ened more than the lowest and middlemost from the ground." 
(xlii. 4 — 6.) " He measured the House an hundred cubits 
long; [183 feet ;] and the separate place, and the build- 
ing with the walls thereof an hundred cubits long." (xli. 13.) 
" Then he said unto me, The north chambers and the south 
chambers, which are before the separate place, they be 
holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the 
Lord shall eat the most holy things ; there shall they 
lay the most holy things, and the meat-offering, and the 
sin-offering and the trespass-offering; for the place is 
holy. When the priests enter therein, then shall they 
not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there 



Sect. XIII,] 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



89 



they shall lay their garments wherein they minister, for 
they are holy ; and shall put on other garments, and shall 
approach to those things which are for the people." (xlii. 13, 
14.) The whole square is enclosed with " a wall round 
about, five hundred reeds long, [rather more than a mile,] 
and five hundred broad, to make a separation between 
the Sanctuary and the profane [or common] place." (xlii, 
20.) Again we ask, Do such descriptions admit of any 
other than a literal interpretation ? and are we left at liberty 
either to believe or disbelieve in the truth of such statements? 

The ordinances of the altar follow ; to the more immediate 
ministrations of which all the Levites are not to be ad- 
mitted henceforth, that honour being reserved to a par- 
ticular order: The "Levites that are gone away far from 
me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away 
from me after their idols ; they shall even bear their ini- 
quity: Yet they shall be Ministers in my Sanctuary, 
having charge at the gates of the House, and minister- 
ing to the House ; they shall slay the burnt-offerings and 
the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before 
them to minister unto them. Because they ministered 
unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel 
to fall into iniquity, therefore have I lifted up mine hand 
against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their 
iniquity. And they shall not come near unto me to do 
the office of spriest unto me, nor to come near to any of 
my holy things, in the Most Holy place ; but they shall bear 
their shame and their abominations which they have com- 
mitted : but I will make them keepers of the charge of the 
House, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be 
done therein. But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, 
that kept the charge of my Sanctuary, when the children of 
Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to my 
table to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge. . . . 
and they shall teach my people the difference between the 
holy and profane, and cause them to discern between 
the unclean and the clean. And in controversy they 
shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according 
to my judgments. . . .And ye shall give them no possession 
in Israel ; I am their possession. They shall eat the meat- 
offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering ; and 
every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the 

H 



90 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



[Sect. XIII. 



first of all the first-fruits of all things, and every oblation 
of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's. " 
(xliv. 10—30.) 

From the directions concerning the ordinances of the 
altar, (which differ materially from those under the Mosaic 
economy,) we do not quote at length. But on what prin- 
ciple their reality can be questioned it is difficult to con- 
ceive. Every circumstance bears testimony to the fact so 
generally disbelieved, or rather, perhaps, so little known. 
It is impossible to suppose directions so minute and spe- 
cific as are here contained, to be altogether destitute of 
precise and positive injunction. Of nothing else but of real 
sacrifice can we understand the ordinance of " one lamb 
out of the flock of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of 
Israel, for a meat-offering, and for a burnt^ offering, and 
for peace-offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith 
the Lord God. All the people of the land shall give this 
oblation for the prince in Israel" (xlv. 15, 16.) How 
else than literally are such injunctions as the following to 
be understood ? " Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt-offer- 
ing unto the Lord, of a lamb of the first year without blem- 
ish ; thou shalt prepare it every morning. And thou shalt 
prepare a meat-offering for it every morning, the sixth part 
of an ephah, and the third part of an bin of oil, to temper 
with the Jine flour ; a meat-offering continually, by a per- 
petual ordinance, unto the Lord. Thus shall they prepare 
the lamb, and the meat-offering, and the oil every morning, 
for a continual burnt-offering." (xlvi. 13 — 15.) 

The right of ministering in this Temple belongs ex- 
clusively to those of the circumcision. And it deserves the 
consideration of those who would spiritualize both priests 
and sacrifices, how this right is preserved to those of the 
literal circumcision. There is a circumcision of heart fre- 
quently spoken of in Scripture, and is here also expressly 
required. But this is not all, for " thus saith the Lord, 
No stranger, uncircumcised in heart nor uncircumcised 
in flesh shall enter into my Sanctuary, of any stranger 
that is among the children of Israel;" (xliv. 9.) and cor- 
responding with this is the particularity with which the 
various departments preparatory to, and connected with 
sacrifice are specified : " After, he brought me through the 
entry which was at the side of the gate into the holy cham- 



Sect. XIII.] 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



91 



bers of the priests, which looked toward the north ; and 
behold there was a place on the two sides westward. Then 
said he unto me, This is the place where the priests 
shall boil the trespass-offering, and the sin-offering, where 
they shall bake the meat-offering, that they bear them not 
out into the outer court to sanctify the people. " And 
having then been shown four courts, the prophet adds, "and 
there was a row of building round about in them, round 
about them four \ and it was made with boiling places un- 
der the rows round about. Then said he unto me, These 
are the places of them that boil, where the Ministers of 
the House shall boil the sacrifice of the people.'' (xlvi. 19 
— 24.) "And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the 
Lord God, These are the ordinances of the altar in the day 
when they shall make it, to offer burnt- offerings thereon, 
and to sprinkle blood thereon." (xliii. 18.) It is also wor- 
thy of notice that provision is made for the change of 
the Sabbath, from the seventh to the eighth or first day : 
" Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it ; and 
they shall consecrate themselves. And when these days 
are expired, it shall be, that, upon the eighth day and so 
forward, the priests shall make your burnt-offerings upon 
the altar, and your peace-offerings ; and I will accept you, 
saith the Lord God." (xliii. 26, 27.) Concerning this 
temple we have seen it is the promise of the Lord by the 
prophet Haggai, " I will fill this house with glory ;" " and 
I looked," says Ezekiel, "and behold the glory of the Lord 
filled the house of the Lord, and I fell upon my face." 
(xliv. 4.) 

Once more let us ask, can all this be viewed as intima- 
tion of any thing else than the re-erection of the literal 
Temple, and the re -institution of sacrifice? We are not 
unaware of the arguments which have been founded on ex- 
pressions in the Epistles ; nor do we seek to conceal the 
fact that these expressions, taken by themselves, do seem 
to countenance the opinion that the ritual observances were 
only designed to continue until the introduction of Christi- 
anity. But it is to be remarked, that, in such cases, the ar- 
gument is generally directed against the abuse of these or- 
dinances; and expressions used, perhaps, concerning that 
abuse, may seem to bear against the continuance of the or- 
dinance itself. But it would not at all affect the question 

h2 



92 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



[Sect. XIII. 



concerning Millennial sacrifice, even if it could be satisfac- 
torily established that the observance of the Mosaic ritual 
was authoritatively discontinued after the death of Christ. 
But in reality we do not find any authoritative abolition of 
sacrifice in the New Testament ; while the known practice 
of believing Jews generally, and of holy apostles in partic- 
ular, demonstrate that there is in sacrifice itself nothing in- 
compatible with the nature of Christianity.* So long as 
the Temple stood — that is, so long as it was possible to of- 
fer sacrifice agreeably to the prescribed will of Heaven — - 
so long did Jews converted to the faith of Jesus continue 
to present their offerings according to the law. It is said of 
those who witnessed the Saviour's ascension, that they af- 
terwards " returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were 
continually in the temple, praising and blessing God/' Luke 
xxiv. 53. Do we not read, that, nearly thirty years after, 
James and the elders of Jerusalem thus addressed the 
apostle Paul? "Thouseest, brother, how many thousands 
of the Jews there are which believe, and they are all zeal- 
ous of the law!' Acts xx. 21. We read also of Paul him- 
self, shortly before this, "having shorn his head, in Cen- 
chrea, for he had a vow!' Acts xviii. 18. And when a 
false rumour had been circulated, that this apostle " taught 
the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, 
saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, 
neither to walk after the customs/ 9 upon the suggestion of 
James and of the elders of Jerusalem, to evidence the false- 
hood of those things of which they had been informed con- 
corning him, and that " all " might know " that thou thy- 
self also walkest orderly and keenest the law" did he not 
join immediately in charges with other four disciples under 
vow? (Acts xxi. 20 — 26) and " 'purifying himself with them, 
entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment of 
the days of purification until that an offering should be 
offered for every one of them" — the sacrifices, in such cases, 
including both lambs and rams. (Numb. vi. 14, 15.) When 
his christian friends at Ephesus pressed him " to tarry longer 

* " These were practised by the Apostles themselves, constantly 
by such as lived in Judea, and occasionally by the rest. The real 
fault [of certain Jewish zealots condemned by Paul] was the depend- 
ing upon them for salvation, in opposition to the grace of Christ," 
History of the Church of Christ, published by London Tract Society* 
vol. L p. 23, 



Sect. XIII.] 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



93 



time witli them, he consented not ; but bade them fare- 
well, saying, I must, by all means, keep this feast that 
cometh, in Jerusalem." Acts xviii. 20, 21. i\nd when 
falsely accused before Felix of having, contrary to the law, 
introduced Gentiles into the inner court of the Temple, he 
denied the charge, saying, " I came to bring alms to my 
nation and offerings, whereupon certain Jews from Asia 
found me purified in the Temple, neither with multitude 
nor with tumult/' Acts xxiv. 17, 18. And when after- 
wards sent prisoner to Rome, he could still aver to "the 
chief of the Jews" there, that he had " committed nothing 
against the people or customs of our fathers." Acts xxviii. 
17. Thus then we find that Jewish converts to Christi- 
anity, including eminent apostles, did not on their conver- 
sion deem it necessary to abandon the institutions of Moses. 
Nor can this be imputed to their ignorance of the spiritu- 
ality of the New dispensation. Paul was not unacquainted 
with " the genius of the gospel," nor unskilled in its minut- 
est requirements. But we are here met by objectors with 
the assertion that Paul's conduct in this respect was mere- 
ly to conciliate the affection of his brethren, the Jews. 
And was this to be purchased at the expense of an entire 
departure from Christian principle by "many thousands" 
of believers ? And was Paul one of those who would 
sacrifice the truth to a false principle of expediency ? No, 
no. Willing as he was, for the good of others, to yield up 
his own convenience, his comfort, his liberty, his life it- 
self, he deprecated as unlawful the principle of doing "evil 
that good may come ;" and charged with " slander" those 
who imputed it unto him. (Rom. hi. 8.) Had the apostle's 
only reason for following the law of Moses been a desire to 
yield to the prejudices of the Jews, on what principle are we 
to understand his refusal to bring Gentile converts under a 
similar obligation ? No less strenuously was this insisted 
for, by Jewish converts, than their being allowed themselves 
to adhere unto the law. But Paul and all the other 
apostles peremptorily rejected this demand. (Acts xv. 24.) 
So also while Paul, in compliance with the desire of the 
Jews, "took and circumcised" Timothy, "the son of a 
certain woman which was a Jewess, and believed ;" when 
it was demanded that Titus should submit to the same rite, 
to those who required this, the Apostle "gave place by sub- 

h3 



94 



TEMPLE REBUILT. 



[Sect. XIII. 



jection, no, not for an hour," Titus " being a Greek." Acts 
xvi. 1. Gal. ii. 3 — 5. The apostle must therefore have 
been influenced by another principle besides that of pleasing 
the Jews — a principle which led him to distinguish between 
the Jew and the Greek, exempting the one from an ordinance 
he imposed on the other. And where then is the evidence 
of the entire and authoritative abolition of sacrifice, and its 
incompatibility with the Gospel of Christ ? And if believ- 
ing Jews, under the gospel, thus adhered to the law of 
Moses so long as the Temple stood, on what ground do 
we " reject the testimony of God " by His prophets, of 
the future re-erection of the Temple, and the re-institution 
of its ordinances ? 

The last circumstance we here notice concerning this 
future Temple is, that in it a new river is to have its 
source : " Afterwards he brought me again unto the door 
of the House;" says the prophet, " and behold waters 
issued out from under the threshold of the House, east- 
ward, (for the fore front of the House [its proper front] 
stood toward the east,) and the waters came down from 
under, from the right side of the House, atthe south side of 
the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the 
gate northward, and led me about the way without unto 
the outer gate, by the way that looketh eastward ; and 
behold there ran out waters on the right side. And when 
the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, 
he measured a thousand cubits, [fully one-third of a mile,] 
and he brought me through the waters ; the waters were 
to the ancles. Again he measured a [second] thousand, 
and brought me through the waters ; the waters were to 
the knees. Again he measured a [third] thousand, and 
brought me through ; the waters were to the loins. After- 
ward he measured a [fourth] thousand ; and it was a river 
that I could not pass over ; for the waters were risen, 
waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. 
And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this ? 
Then he brought me and caused me to return to the brink 
of the river. Now when I had returned, behold at the 
bank of the river were very many trees, on the one side 
and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters 
issue out toward the east country, and go down into the 
desert, and go into the sea; which being brought forth into 



Sect. XIV.] NATIONS WORSHIPPING IN JERUSALEM. 95 



the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to 
pass that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whither- 
soever the rivers shall come, shall live; and there shall 
be a very great number ofjish, because these waters shall 
come thither ; for they shall be healed ; and every thing 
shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to 
pass, that the Jishers shall stand upon it, from Engedi 
even unto Eneglaim ; they shall be a place to spread forth 
nets : their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the 
fish of the great sea, exceeding many." * Ezek. xlvii.l — 10. 



SECTION XIV. 

THE NATIONS COMING TO WORSHIP IN JERUSALEM. 

The Redeemer having, with wonderful condescension, 
deigned to dwell with men, and his Temple being rebuilt 
in Jerusalem, the nations are represented as coming to 

* The Rev. Mr. Mason, in his Gentiles' Fulness, almost seems 
to admit — as it will be difficult for any one after carefully reading 
the 41st and following chapters of Ezekiel to deny — that the Jewish 
Temple shall yet be re-erected, as he refers, (page 134,) to " the 
duties and provision of their priests" so minutely described by the 
prophet. But he afterwards censures severely a writer for expressly 
declaring this, and for supposing the waters to be real which are 
thus represented as having their source in the Sanctuary. But if 
the Sanctuary itself be real, (and every thing in the description 
forbids any other interpretation,) how else are we to explain the 
waters which the prophet saw issuing from under its threshold — 
forming a stream, to observe the course of which he was brought 
without the outer gate — which gradually enlarged in its progress, from 
ancle depth till it became an impassable river — the waters of which 
abounded with fish of various kinds, and whose banks were covered 
with fruit-bearing trees — which flowed down through the desert till 
4t emptied itself into the sea, — and, on a certain portion only of 
which, fishermen were employed in spreading forth their nets ? The 
rise of this river is also predicted by the prophet Joel : " And a 
fountain shall come forth of the House of the Lord, and shall water 
the valley of Shittim." Joel iii. 18. It seems somewhere to divide, 
forming two distinct rivers, flowing in opposite directions : " And 
it shall be in that day, that living waters, [waters always springing 
and running] shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the 
former sea, [the eastern or Dead Sea,] and half of them toward the 
hinder sea [the western or Mediterranean sea] : in summer and in 
winter shall it be." Zech* xiv« 8. 



96 



NATIONS COMING TO [Sect. XIV. 



worship before him. A prediction to this effect is given in 
precisely the same terms by the prophets Isaiah (ii. 2, 3) 
and Micah : " But in the last days it shall come to pass, 
that the mountain of the House of the Lord shall be esta- 
blished in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted 
above the hills ; and people shall flow unto it; and many 
nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to 
the mountain of the Lord, and to the House of the God 
of Jacob ; and He will teach us of his ways, and we will 
walk in his paths ; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and 
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" Micah iv. 1, 2. 
In this prediction, " the House of the God of Jacob" and 
" the mountain of the House of the Lord" are both con- 
sidered by many as the church; and the "nations" and 
"people" coming thither, as those becoming members of 
it. Were we even to look no farther than to the words 
quoted, this would appear an unnatural interpretation of 
the passage, and when viewed together with its context it 
at once appears inadmissible. The quotation we have made 
is evidently a contrast to something previously declared : 
" But in the last days it shall come to pass," &c. There 
are here two marks of contrast : " but," in contradistinc- 
tion to something formerly mentioned, " it shall come to 
pass and " in the last days" circumstances shall differ 
from those at another period also referred to previously. 
These points of contrast have been unskillfully separated in 
our translation by placing them in different chapters ; but 
by looking at the last verses of the preceding chapter the 
meaning of those quoted will instantly appear. That 
chapter contains an exposure of the hypocrisy of the 
" heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the home of 
Israel" and a threatening is denounced of coming desola- 
tion on their land : " They build up Zion with blood, 
[this is not the church certainly,] and Jerusalem with ini- 
quity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests 
thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine 
for money : yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, Is 
not the Lord among us ? None evil can come upon us. 
Therefore [on account of this their iniquity] shall Zion for 
your sake be plotved as a field, and Jerusalem shall be- 
come heaps, and the mountain of the House as the high 
places of the forest. But in the last days," &c. Thus, 



Sect. XIV,] 



WORSHIP IN JERUSALEM. 



97 



then, we see that it was the literal " Jerusalem" and "Zion" 
and "mountain of the House," which, for the sin of Israel, 
were to be "ploughed" and laid in "heaps," and which 
have literally been so. And it is in contrast to their pre- 
sent state that from the same " Jerusalem" and " Zion" 
and " House of the Lord," the word of the Lord shall 
again go forth, and to which "in the last days" many na- 
tions shall come. This shall be at the Millennium, when 
" nation shall not lift up a sword against nation ; neither 
shall they learn war any more." ver. 3. 

Again, " At that time, they shall call Jerusalem the 
throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered 
unto it to the name of the Lord to Jerusalem; neither 
shall they walk any more after the imaginations of their 
evil heart." Jer. iii. 17. This is when " the house of 
Juclah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall 
come together out of the land of the north" to their own 
land ; " and at that time, they shall call Jerusalem the 
throne of the Lord." It is, therefore, at the restoration of 
Israel, and the conversion of " all the nations," for " nei- 
ther shall they walk any more after the imaginations of 
their evil heart." 

So also, by the prophet Zechariah, " Thus saith the 
Lord of hosts, It shall yet come to pass that there shall 
come people, and the inhabitants of many cities ; and the 
inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us 
go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord 
of hosts ; I will go also. Yea, many people and strong 
nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, 
and to pray before the Lord." Zech. viii. 20 — 22. These 
inhabitants of " many cities" shall go not to the church 
merely, for in doing so they would not need to leave their 
cities. But, stirring up each other, " the inhabitants of one 
city shall go to another" seeking their company in going 
to " Jerusalem ;" whither they shall go together " to seek 
the Lord of hosts," and " to pray before the Lord" — 
plainly implying His presence there. And that it is the 
literal Jerusalem is farther evident from the honour they 
shall put on the Jews: " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 
In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall 
take hold (out of all languages of the nations,) even shall 
take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We 



93 



NATIONS COMING TO 



[Sect. XIV. 



will go with you ; for we have heard that God is with 
you." ver. 23. 

In a psalm containing decided references to the restora- 
tion of Israel and the Millennian period, it is said, " Be- 
cause of thy Temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring 'pre- 
sents unto thee ;" then " princes shall come out of Egypt; 
Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." Ps. 
lxviii. 29, 31. The very reason of these " kings" going to 
Jerusalem is because God's "Temple" will be there. 

The attendance of the nations at the regular and stated 
feasts, the Lord expressly declares by the prophet Isaiah : 
" It shall come that I will gather all 7iations and tongues ; 
and they shall co?ne and see my glory. . . .and it shall 
come to pass that from one new moon to another, and 
from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to 
worship before me, saith the Lord." Is. lxvi. 18, 23. Al- 
though in these words Jerusalem is not named, yet is it 
plainly implied : " They shall come," — but whither? The 
prophecy itself furnishes us with the answer. Referring 
to the restoration of Israel, it is said, (ver. 19, 20.) the 
Gentiles " shall bring all your brethren" Now this bring- 
ing must be to the same place as the coming of the na- 
tions, since both imply a movement to the place occupied 
by the speaker. Therefore if we can ascertain whither 
the Gentiles shall "bring" the prophet's "brethren," this 
will be the place to which the nations " shall come" to wor- 
ship. Now, the former place is distinctly mentioned as being 
Jerusalem : they shall bring them, saith the Lord, 
"to my holy mountain Jerusalem!' And all shall 
come thither to worship from Sabbath to Sabbath — there 
shall be continually from all parts of the earth worship- 
pers attending upon the appointed feasts. 

But the most explicit prediction on this subject is that 
with which the Prophecies of Zechariah conclude, and 
to which we formerly alluded : "It shall come to pass that 
every one that is left of all the nations which came against 
Jerusalem [after Israel's restoration] shall even go up 
from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, 
and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be that 
whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth 
unto Jerusalem to worship the King the Lord of hosts, 
even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of 



Sect. XIV.] 



WORSHIP IN JERUSALEM. 



99 



Egypt go not up and come not, (that have no rain,) there 
shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the 
heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punish- 
ment of all nations, that come not up to keep the feast of 
tabernacles. In that day shall there be upon the bells of 
the horses Holiness unto the Lord ; and the pots in the 
Lord's House shall be like the bowls before the altar. 
Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness 
unto the Lord of hosts ; and all they that sacrifice shall 
come and take of them, and seethe therein ; and in that 
day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the House of 
the Lord of Hosts/' Zech. xiv. 16 — 21. This is imme- 
diately subsequent to the future attack of the confederated 
nations upon Jerusalem after the restoration of Israel, when 
" the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the 
women ravished;" when part of the inhabitants shall be 
made captives, " and the residue of the people shall not 
be cut off from the city." ver. 2. This must therefore be the 
literal " Jerusalem, v and not the church. Having been 
then rescued from the power of the oppressor by the Savi- 
our's interposition in their behalf, and peace restored ; 
" there shall be no more utter destruction, but Jerusalem 
shall be safely inhabited." ver. 11. Now it is to this same 
Jerusalem that "the nations which came against'' it shall 
come up " to worship the King;" and this King is " the 
Lord of hosts." Each of these nations shall go up to 
Jerusalem, "from year to year;'' but this does not imply 
that every individual shall do so — although this has some- 
times been asserted, with the view of fixing upon the literal 
interpretation of the prophecy a charge of absurdity, from 
the supposed impossibility of its being so accomplished. 
This is indeed required of " all the families of the earth ';" 
yet it is to be observed, that the word "families'' is not 
here used in its ordinary and limited sense ; but in that 
more comprehensive signification of nation or people, at- 
tached to it in the promise to Abraham, that in him shall 
" all the families of the earth be blessed." In this sense 
the kingdom of Judah is called a " family,'' by the pro- 
phet Jeremiah : " them that remain of this evil family! 1 
Jer. viii. 3. But besides its having this meaning in other 
parts of Scripture, the term is plainly so used in this very 



100 



REVIEW OF PROMISES OF THE [Sect. XV. 



prophecy. Thus, while punishment is denounced against 
all " the families of the earth" generally, we have its mean- 
ing defined by the more particular reference to the case of 
" the family of Egypt.' ' From this we at once perceive that 
the term " family" is used for " nation" or " people,'' Egypt 
being here reckoned and styled but one "family/' Thus 
all the nations or " families of the earth *' may go up to 
Jerusalem, as they do other things, by representation. Be- 
sides such of the people as have the will and the power, 
(and during the Millennium, these will happily be generally 
conjoined, facilities being doubtless mightily increased) 
nations as such will present at Jerusalem their acknowledg- 
ment of allegiance to the exalted Jesus, the Great Supreme. 
From this obligation none will be exempted, and breach of 
the requirement will be visited with Heaven's chastisements 
of different kinds. This diversity of punishment also proves 
that the prophecy is to be literally interpreted. Such na- 
tions as refuse or neglect to come up to Jerusalem, " upon 
them shall be no rainy But as this would not be a pun- 
ishment to any country which does not enjoy or stand in 
need of the refreshing shower, so if " Egypt go not up and 
come not, that have no rain, [being watered by the period- 
ical overflowings of the Nile,] there shall be the plague 
wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not 
up to keep the feast of tabernacles/' Here we find that 
literal punishment must be meant on literal countries, since 
it is thus adapted to the diversified circumstances of trans- 
gressors. Tn this then we have additional evidence of the 
fact that when in the Land of Israel the House of the Lord 
shall be built, men shall come thither from every clime to 
adore the blessed Saviour, the acknowledged " King of 
kings and Lord of lords." 



SECTION XV. 

REVIEW OF PROMISES OF THE PRESENCE 
OF THE LORD ON EARTH. 

In perusing the preceding pages, or reading generally the 
Old Testament prophecies concerning the Millennium, it is 



Sect. XV.] PRESENCE OF THE LORD ON EARTH. 101 

remarkable with what frequency the Messiah is introduced 
as David or The Beloved, the Root and Branch of Jesse, 
The Lord, The Lord our Righteousness, The Redeemer, 
The Lord of Hosts, The Prince, The King, and The King 
of Israel ; of His being with and amongst his people — ancjr 
of His reigning over and in the midst of them in Zion and 
in Jerusalem. And not only is His presence promised, but 
it is spoken of as being the highest glory and best enjoy- 
ment of that bliss which are the peculiar characteristics of 
the era to which they refer. Indeed, from the circum- 
stances with which they are connected, many of these pre- 
dictions appear altogether incomprehensible, if the personal 
presence of the Redeemer is denied. Nor can any suffi- 
cient reason be assigned for substituting the presence of the 
Spirit as an equivalent for the promised presence of Em- 
manuel — " The King of Israel." The copious effusion 
of the influences of the Spirit, and the general holiness of 
men is, as we have already noticed, the subject of another 
gracious promise for " that day," and ought not to be con- 
founded with, nor merged into, that which now forms the 
subject of more immediate investigation. To do so is not 
merely offering violence to the language of Scripture, but 
doing this without the shadow of necessity. The prophe- 
cies present a view of the Messiah's character and work, 
full, clear, and consistent ; stated with so much plainness, 
and so oft repeated, as to leave room for wonder that his 
personal presence ever could have been so explained away. 
The language, as left by the Holy Ghost, seems to stand 
in need of no amendment — no accommodation. A short 
review of some of these promises, given in few words, and 
arranged in order, will fully substantiate this statement, — 
a careful examination of their several contexts will prove 
the whole to be unfulfilled predictions. " When the Lord 
shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory." Ps. cii. 
16. "Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and 
shall come into Egypt." Is. xix. 1. " The Lord shall go 
forth as a mighty man ; he shall stir up jealousy as a man 
of war." Is. xlii. 13. " The Lord of hosts shall come 
down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the hill thereof, . . . 
and passing over Jerusalem he will defend it." Is. xxxi. 4, 
5. " For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with 
his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, 

I 



102 



PRESENCE OF THE LORD ON EARTH. [Sect. XV. 



and his rebuke with flames of fire." Is. lxvi. 15. He is 
also seen, by the holy prophet, coming " from Edom, with 
dyed garments from Bozrah, glorious in his apparel, trav- 
elling in the greatness of his strength," " treading down 
the people in his fury, and staining his raiments with their 
blood." * Is. lxiii. 1,6. " Yet," says the Lord, '« have I 
set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." Ps. ii. 6, " And 
the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn 
from transgression in Jacob." Is. lix. 20. "Sing and re- 
joice, O daughter of Zion, for, lo ! I come, and will dwell 
in the midst of thee, saith the Lord." Zech. ii. ]0. "The 
Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon 
thee." Is. Ix. 2. " The Lord will be thine everlasting 
light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." Is. ]x. 
20. " And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came 
from the way of the east ; and His voice was like a noise 
of many waters, and the earth shined with his glory." 
Ezek. xliii. 2. " His feet shall stand in that day upon 
the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the 
east." Zech. xiv. 4. Tn the days when " Judah shall be 
saved, " and Israel shall dwell safely," as King shall the 
Lord our Righteousness "reign and prosper, executing 
judgment and justice in the earth." Jer. xxiii. 5. " Behold 
a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule 
in judgment ;" for " the Lord my God shall come, and all 
the saints with thee." Is. xxxii. 1. Zech. xiv. 5. He shall 
then be " Governor," not only over but " among the na- 
tions." Ps. xxii. 28. " The Lord shall be King over all 
the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord and his 
name One." Zech. xiv. 9. " Then the moon shall be con- 
founded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts 
shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his 
ancients gloriously." Is. xxiv. 23. "At that time they 
shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the 
nations shall be gathered unto it to the Name of the Lord 
to Jerusalem." Jer. iii. 17. " Yea, many people and strong 
nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, 
and to pray before the Lord." Zech. viii. 22. 

* This passage has sometimes been applied to the first advent of 
Christ, and the sufferings He himself endured. But this is an ap- 
plication which it does not admit. He treads his enemies in his 
anger — he tramples them in his /wry,— and his garments are sprin- 
kled with their blood. 



Sect. XVI.] LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. 103 



SECTION XVI. 

THE LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY, 

In preceding Sections we have endeavoured to prove, 
from the very nature of most of the predictions adduced, 
that they are only capable of a literal interpretation. Ad- 
vancing in the argument, we now farther observe, that to ex- 
plain away all the predictions concerning the glory of Christ, 
is to justify his rejection by the Jews, notwithstanding of 
the plain declarations of his humility and sufferings. For, 
if we are at liberty to spiritualize all the prophecies which 
foretell his reign in glory, how can we blame them for 
adopting a similar mode of interpreting other predictions 
not more clear and far less numerous ? Besides, this is a 
method of interpretation which seems not only repugnant 
to reason, but is quite inconsistent with that Literal Fulfil- 
ment which Prophecy has hitherto received. If all past ' 
predictions, except where figures are obviously used, have 
had their fulfilment literally, even when the minuteness of 
Prophecy was extreme, on what principle of interpretation 
is a mode of fulfilment yet unprecedented now to be ex- 
pected ? We can point to a long series of predictions which 
have been literally fulfilled, and to others which are being 
so at this very day, in their utmost minutiae, and can see no 
reason to suppose, that those which, for aught we can tell, 
may relate to the ensuing month or the ensuing year, are 
not to have a literal fulfilment also, as no intimation is given 
by the Spirit of Prophecy of a period at which this mode 
of their accomplishment shall cease. Thus alone can the 
criterion divinely given, by which to distinguish the true 
from the false prophet, be of any avail : " If thou say in 
thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord 
hath not spoken ? When a prophet speaketh in the name 
of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that 
is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the pro- 
phet hath spoken it presumptuously/' Deut. xxvii. 2], 22. 
And the minuteness with which Prophecy has hitherto been 
fulfilled, proves how safely the rule may be applied. The 
past dealings of God, in this respect — which show the per- 
fect correspondence between the prediction and its accom- 

i 2 



104 LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. [Sect. XVI. 



plishment — have however been much neglected ; and hence, 
perhaps, the unwillingness so often displayed, believingly 
to receive the promises He has bestowed, without the inter- 
vention of our own limitations ; and hence, also, our 
unbelieving fears to submit divine predictions concerning 
the future to the ordeal which Jehovah himself has pre- 
scribed. But of the evidence to be derived from the past 
fulfilment of Prophecy, did our limits permit the prosecution 
of this branch of the argument, the history of nations and 
individuals would furnish abundant and valuable illustration. 
We might take the Scripture predictions concerning the 
state of different countries, and show how amply they are 
verified by the accounts of recent travellers, wholly uncon- 
scious of the coincidence, — and, in some cases, with views 
decidedly hostile to Revelation. Or, taking History as evi- 
dence, we might trace the literal fulfilment of Prophecy in 
the rise and fall of empires— the scenes of their splendour 
and the means of their overthrow. We might refer to the 
judgments poured on cities famed of old, and in the height 
of their glory when denounced of the Lord y — of Nineveh, of 
Babylon, of Tyre, of Jerusalem, and others : and might 
gather thence evidence incontrovertible of the literal fulfil- 
ment of Prophecy in circumstances the most improbable to 
human foresight — by means the most unlikely in human 
estimation — and with a specification of incidents so appar- 
ently insignificant, as would perhaps never have been re- 
corded had not the minds of historians been under the im- 
mediate control of Him whose omniscience they thus un- 
wittingly attested. The very improbability of such pro- 
phecies ever being fulfilled renders their accomplishment a 
more glorious display of that divine attribute which Jeho- 
vah claims as peculiarly his own, and in proof of which he 
even appeals to Prophecy. Some, who have not inquired 
upon the subject, are apt to imagine, that, although intima- 
tions of a general nature have been given, particular circum- 
stances are not condescended upon. This opinion, how- 
ever, is far from being correct. There is often a perfect 
delineation of inferior circumstances, and this, in some in- 
stances, to a degree altogether astonishing; as when, in 
picturing forth Idumean desolation, the prediction includes 
the provision of a mate for every vulture : " There shall 
the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. 



Sect. XVI.] LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. 105 



Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord and read, no one of 
these shall fail, none shall want her mate ; for my mouth 
it hath commanded, and his Spirit it hath gathered them." 
Is. xxxiv. 15, 16. 

These remarks derive much confirmation from a recent 
publication by the Rev. Alexander Keith, entitled, " Evi- 
dence of the Truth of the Christian Religion derived from 
the Literal Fulfilment of Prophecy from which, did our 
limits permit, we should gladly have availed ourselves of 
extracts.* But for the illustration of our views, we prefer 
making a selection of Scripture predictions concerning the 
humiliation of Christ, with reference to their Fulfilment. 

The patriarch Jacob had left the consolatory assurance 
that the sceptre should not depart from Judah, nor a law- 
giver from between his feet, until Shiloh came ; (Gen. xliv. 
10;) and, accordingly, it was not till about the time Christ 
publicly appeared in the temple, in the twelfth year of His 
age, that the last king, Archilaus, was dethroned and ba- 
nished. The Redeemer was not only to be of the tribe 
of Judah, but of the family of David ; and his genealogy, 
both by natural and legal succession, have, in Scripture, 
been preserved as evidence. Mat. i. Luke iii. Isaiah pre- 
dicted that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son ; and, 
in due time, the fulfilment of the glorious prophecy was 
attested to Mary's espoused husband by an angel from hea- 
ven. Is. vii. 14. Matt. i. 10. Prophecy had pointed to 
Bethlehem Ephrata, as the place of His nativity ; and two 
of the evangelists inform us Jesus was born there. Micah 
v. 2. Matt. ii. L Luke ii. 4, 6. The prophet predicted 
to Jerusalem the approach of her lowly King riding upon 
an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass ; and the evangelist 
records its exact fulfilment, when Jesus so entered the city 
amid the hosannahs of the multitude. Zech. ix. 9. Matt, 
xxi. 1 . Prophecy declared, " When we shall see Him 
there is no beauty that we should desire him;" and we 

* Although the author has sometimes endeavoured to find fulfil- 
ment for prophecies which have not yet met their accomplishment, 
we would warmly recommend this work to the perusal of those who 
have not attended to this branch of the argument. Written for the 
confutation of the avowed Unbeliever, it is not less calculated to 
reprove the practical infidelity of real and professed Christians in 
the absolute verity of divine prediction. 



106 LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. [Sect. XVI. 



know that " He came unto his own, and his own received 
him not." Is. liii. 2. John i. ]1. It was said by the pro- 
phet, " We hid, as it were, our faces from him;" and the 
evangelist informs us, " All his disciples forsook him and 
fled." Is. liii. 3. Matt. xxvi. 5, 6. The Saviour, in Pro- 
phecy, complained of being laughed to scorn; and his 
evangelists narrate the contempt with which He was treated ; 
— " Herod with his men of war set him at nought," and 
the Roman soldiers having arrayed him in the emblems of 
mock royalty, bowed the knee before him in derision. Ps. 
xxii. 6. Matt, xxvii. 29. Luke xxiii. 11. If he said, " I 
hid not my face from shame and spitting," the pen of in- 
spiration records that he was thus ignominiously treated. 
Is. 1. 6. Matt. xxvi. 67. Prophecy had foretold, " They 
shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek;" 
and its fulfilment was witnessed, when " They spit upon 
him, and took the reed and smote him on the head." Mic. 
v. 1. Matt, xxvii. 30. The prophecy is, " he was op- 
pressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ;" the 
fulfilment is, " when he was accused of the chief priests 
and elders, he answered nothing." Is. liii. 7. Matt, xxvii. 
12. The prophet predicted, that he should be " despised 
and rejected of men f* and when, by their law, a prisoner 
must be released, the Jews ' clamorously preferred Barab- 
bas, a robber and murderer, to the Holy Son of God. Is. 
liii. 3. Mark xv. 15. Did Prophecy pourtray him as e< a 
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ?" He not merely 
" endured the contradiction of sinners," but suffered under 
the hiding of his Father's face, and in our room experienced 
the bitterness of divine wrath, till in his agony he sweat 
blood, and exclaimed that his soul was " exceeding sorrow- 
fill even unto death." Is. liii. 3. Heb. xii. 3. Matt. xxvi. 
38. If it was foretold that he who did eat his bread should 
lift his heel against him ; " Jesus answered and said, he 
that dippeth his hand with me in the dish the same shall 
betray me." Ps. xlix. 1. Matt. xxvi. 23. It was predicted 
that he should be prized at "thirty pieces of silver;" and 
it is also narrated, that Judas covenanted to betray his 
Master into the hands of His enemies for that sum Zech. 
xi. 12. Matt. xxvi. 14, 15. And the Lord said unto the 
prophet, " Cast it unto the potter;" and when the traitor 
returned the reward of his treachery to the chief priests, 



Sect. XVI.] LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. 107 

" they took counsel and bought with it the potter s field to 
bury strangers in." Zech. xi. 13. Matt, xxvii. 7. In Pro- 
phecy, the Saviour complained, " they shake the head, 
saying, He trusted in the Lord that He would deliver him; 
let Him deliver him seeing he trusted in Him;" and in the 
very words did not the chief priests with the scribes and 
elders " mocking him" say, He trusted in God, let Him de- 
liver him now if He will have him?" Ps. xxii. 7, 8. Matt, 
xxvii. 43. In Prophecy, the Saviour complained, " they gave 
me gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to 
drink;" and it was verified when, at Golgotha, "they gave 
him Vinegar to drink mingled with gall." Ps. Ixix. 21. Matt, 
xxvii. 34. The prophet foretold, that " threescore and two 
weeks" [of years] after the edict for rebuilding Jerusalem, 
the Messiah should be cut off; (Dan. ix. 26.) and History 
testifies this to have been the precise time that elapsed be- 
tween the giving of that decree by Artaxerxes and the 
death of Christ. If it was promised that he should pour 
out his soul unto death ; Jesus said, " It is finished, and he 
bowed his head and gave up the ghost." Is. liii. 12. John 
xix. 30. Though to be put to a violent death, and "cut off 
out of the land of the living," it was added by the prophets, 
" but not for Himself;" "for the transgression of my people 
was He smitten :" and accordingly He who was " holy, 
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," "bare our 
sins in His own body." Dan. ix. 26. Is. liii. 12. Heb. vii. 27. 
, 1 Pet. ii. 24. Yet the prophet declares, " he was numbered 
with transgressors and the Evangelist records, that " with 
him they crucified two thieves, the one on his right hand 
and the other on his left." Is. liii. 12. Mark xv. 27. The 
prophecy is, " they pierced my hands and feet ;" and an 
incredulous disciple was convinced of the reality of his 
Master's resurrection, by witnessing in his hands the print 
of the nails by which he had been transfixed to the ac- 
cursed tree. Ps. xxii. 16. John xx. 28. Again, it was 
predicted, " they shall look on me whom they have 
pierced;" and it is also recorded, that " one of the sol- 
diers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith there 
came out blood and water." Zech. xii. 10. John xix 34, 
If it was farther foretold, " they part my garments among 
them, and cast lots upon my vesture Inspiration also 
informs us, that in Uhis very manner did the attendant sol- 



108 LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. [Sect. XVI. 



diers divide the Saviour's raiment. Ps. xxii. 18. John xix. 
23. The Passover had typified* and the Psalmist predicted 
of the Righteous One, that " the Lord keepeth all his bones, 
not one of them shall be broken and the beloved dis- 
ciple saw and bears record, that while, at the request of 

* It would be altogether inconsistent with our present design to 
offer any lengthened remarks on the objections made to Mr* Irving's 
use of the Scriptural Types in establishing the doctrine of the second 
advent of Messiah, by the Examinator of his Opinions in the Chris- 
tian Instructor. Types, it must be acknowledged, are rather fitted 
for illustration than for proof; but there is no sufficient reason why, 
in this case, that use should not be made of them for which they are 
said expressly to have been given, and to which they are applied 
with regard to other doctrines. Still, it must be confessed, that as 
types can only be made available for the illustration of what is al- 
ready proved and admitted, it would have been better — we say it 
with all respect for Mr. Irving, to whose uncompromising fidelity 
in this matter we feel ourselves under the highest obligations, in 
having had our attention more particularly directed to this awfully 
interesting subject, and take pleasure in having thus an opportunity 
of making the acknowledgment — it would yet, in our opinion, have 
been better, in preaching this doctrine to those who wholly disbe- 
lieved it, to have kept more exclusively to the direct proof of its 
Scriptural authority — to which we are happy to learn he has subse- 
quently adhered. But when the Examinator was professedly re- 
viewing Mr Irving's Lectures, how is it that he has not taken up, 
fully and formally, a single one of his arguments founded on the 
express declaration of the divine word ? He has enlarged on the 
unsuitableness of types for the purpose Mr. Irving had in view, 
and assumes that what was given in illustration was adduced as 
evidence direct. But on this subject he has himself made admis- 
sions, from which, perhaps, it would not be difficult to prove that- 
much of what he has written upon it is inadmissible. So far from 
the " general similarity of God's dealings with His creatures in 
similar circumstances," being a sufficient reason for denying the 
typical character of certain events, that it might of itself rather be 
taken as a warrant for that application which Mr. Irving made of 
the Scriptural reference unto them. For if, as the Examinator 
says, "almost every thing in Prophecy is made to centre in, and to 
depend upon the coming of Christ, and the consequences to the 
world of this coming," is it not highly reasonable to suppose that 
€rod in His dealings with individuals and with nations, so ordered 
His blessings and His judgments as to foreshadow those great events 
which are yet future, and which are revealed as to be accomplished 
in latter times, in consequence of Christ's coming to the world? 
Should not that very similarity, on which the Examinator founds 
his objection, have led us to the conclusion that God's dealings in 
one case were designed to point to others of a similar character, 
though mightier in result, even if the Holy Spirit had not abso- 
lutely required this application, by expressly intimating their typi- 
cal character and ultimate reference ? 



Sect. XVI.] LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. 109 



the Jews, the legs of the malefactors were broken, the 
Saviour being already dead, they brake not His. Ps. xxxiv. 
20. John xix. 33. It was predicted that he should be 
with the rich in the state of the dead ; (Is. liii. 9,) and it 
is also recorded by the various Evangelists, that Joseph of 
Arimathea, an honourable councillor, having begged from 
Pilate the body of Jesus, he wrapped it in fine linen, and 
laid it in his own new sepulchre, wherein never man before 
was laid. It was again said, in Prophecy, " Thou shalt 
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine 
Holy One to see corruption ; v and early in the morning 
of the third day his resurrection was declared to his disci- 
ples, by an angel whose countenance was like lightning, 
and his raiment white as snow. Ps. xvi. 10. Matt, xxviii. 
3. And, lastly, it was prophetically declared, " Thou 
hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive;" 
and so it is recorded, that " while his disciples beheld, he 
was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." 
Ps. lxviii. 18. Acts i. 9, Eph. iv. 8. 

The legitimate conclusion from this Literal. Fulfilment of 
Prophecy, in times past, surely is, that predictions concern- 
ing the future will have a similar accomplishment ; and that 
as Jesus was really born of " a virgin," so will he also 
" come with the clouds of heaven," when there shall be 
" given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all 
people, nations, and languages should serve him." Is. vii. 
14. Dan. vii. 13, 14. That, in the day of his power, he 
will as certainly come to Egypt " riding on a swift cloud," 
as, in his humiliation, he entered Jerusalem seated on an 
ass. Is. xix. 1. Zech. ix. 9. That as "the spirit of whore- 
doms in the midst of Israel " has hitherto blinded them, 
that " they have not known the Lord," they shall '? know 
that the Lord of hosts hath sent'' him, when he " shall in- 
herit Judah his portion in the Holy Land." Hos. v. 5. 
Zech. ii. 11, 12. That as, when formerly he tabernacled 
with men, he brake not the bruised reed, nor quenched the 
smoking flax, so shall he yet " go forth as a mighty man, 
stirring up jealousy like a man of w r ar." Is. xlii. 3, 13. 
That as he really submitted to oppression and affliction, 
while "he opened not his mouth," so will he, in the 



110 LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. [Sect. XVI. 



day of his fierce anger, " destroy and devour at once."* 
Is. liii. 7. xlii. 14. That as the humble Shiloh truly 
came ere the sceptre had departed from Judah, so will 
the Lord when he builds up Zion appear in his glory. 
Gen. xlix, 10. Ps. ex. 16. That as, when formerly he 
appeared in our world, the Jewish nation " saw in him 
no form nor comeliness/' so will he be " the Desire of all 
nations" when he comes again. Is. liii. 2. Hag. ii. 7. 
That as, at his first coming, he was truly " a man of 
sorrows and acquainted with grief," he will, at his return, 
"rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in his people." Is. liii. 3. 
lxv. 19. That as the children of Israel have really re- 
mained "many days without a king and without a prince," 
so they will, in the same sense, have this reproach removed, 
when, in the latter days, they " shall return and seek the 
Lord their God and The Beloved their King." Hos. iii. 
4, 5. That as he who "is to be Ruler in Israel" was 
really born in Bethlehem, so, when he has " returned unto 
Zion, he will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem." Micah v. 2. 

* The Examinator already referred to, in the Christian Instruc- 
tor, (p. 596,) is much opposed to the view of Christ coming person- 
ally for the destruction of Antichristian nations, because, during 
the time of his first residence on earth, the whole of his doctrine 
and practice inculcated peace. But were this criterion adopted, 
we must at once deny that the Lord Jesus willewr be revealed from 
heaven, " in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not 
God, and who obey not the gospel." 2 Thess. i. 8. Another apos- 
tle, as well as Christ himself, expressly tells us, that " all the tribes 
of the earth shall mourn" when they see him coming in his power 
and glory; (Rev. i.7< Matt.xxiv. 30.) but, upon the above principle, 
there can be no occasion for the most guilty to fear, because, when 
formerly upon the earth, he said unto his disciples, " love your 
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 
and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that 
ye may be the children of your father who is in heaven." Such 
reasoning proceeds on a very imperfect view of the Saviour's char- 
acter. The Examinator does not, however, always adhere to this 
partial delineation. He repeatedly asserts that Christ came again 
at the destruction of Jerusalem. This, while it sets at nought his 
idea of peacefulness as the only ingredient in the character of 
Christ, appears the more surprising as it is an assertion which the 
Scriptures do not warrant. Not that this act of his justice was in- 
consistent with his character of mercy — which would not have been 
sullied in the least although he had chosen to come personally for 
the infliction of his vengeance on the guilty city — but the Scriptures 
do not authorize the Examinator to make such an assertion, and it 
is in itself subversive of the objection adduced. 



Sect. XVI.] LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. Ill 



Zech. viii. 3. That as " the city and the Sanctuary" were 
really destroyed by " the people of the prince " who came 
to execute the vengeance of God, so will the House of the 
Lord of hosts "be built" again, when he is "returned to 
Jerusalem with mercies." Dan. ix. 26. Zech. i. 16. That 
as really as his disciples " hid their faces from him" in 
the hour of his distress, shall "many people and strong 
nations come to seek the Lord of hosts in J erusalem, and 
to pray before the Lord." Is. liii. 2. Zech. viii. 22. That 
as, on Calvary, he really " made his soul an offering for 
sin," so will he reign "in. Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, 
and before his ancients gloriously." Is. liii. 10. xxiv. 23. 

What valid reason can be offered for putting a spiritual 
interpretation on the one class of predictions, in the above 
series, which was not extended to the other ? Notwith- 
standing of the unbelief of the Jews, those concerning his 
sufferings and death were fulfilled to the very letter ; and 
what is there in the language of the other which should in- 
duce us to adopt a system of interpretation so opposite in 
its nature ? This mode of spiritualizing certain prophecies 
appears the more exceptionable when we perceive, that 
while one clause of a sentence is allowed to have a literal 
signification, another is understood spiritually, although 
there be nothing observable which can direct to such a 
change — the system being still farther encumbered by the 
difficulty of managing certain portions which will in no 
way bend to such accommodation as it requires. Have 
we then no reason to fear that in thus introducing an un- 
authorized system of prophetic interpretation, we may be 
" teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men ?" In- 
stead, therefore, of unreasonably persisting in adherence to 
such opinions, and putting upon Prophecy a meaning it can- 
not bear, let us inquire whether the more natural and the 
more obvious sense be not that which the Spirit of God de- 
signed. The answer to this inquiry may perhaps be read 
in the fact, that Prophecy has hitherto been fulfilled in its 
proper sense ; while the consequences of abandoning this 
mode of interpretation by the Jews, form a beacon which 
ought ever to be kept in view. By overlooking the plain 
declarations of his sufferings and death, they would not re- 
ceive the despised Nazarene as their anointed Lord. Let 
us not, in defiance of their punishment, reject the more 



112 VIEWS HELD IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE [Sect. XVII, 



numerous declarations of his coming and kingdom in glory. 
Let Christians attend to the lofty descriptions of the holy 
prophets — let them weigh their united evidence — let them 
examine the multitude of these predictions, and the sublim- 
ity which pervades them — let them consider the harmony 
with which they all bear testimony to His Coming and 
abiding with his people — and let them then reflect whether 
it is probable that all these promises, clear as they seem, 
and literally as prophecy has hitherto been fulfilled, do not 
in reality imply, and afford evidence of the truth of Christ's 
personal reign on earth during the Millennium. 



SECTION XVII. 

VIEWS OF BELIEVERS, IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE, CON- 
CERNING THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM. 

To those who oppose the above views of the Messiah's 
reign, it ought certainly to appear a singular omission that 
there should not be found in all the Epistles of the inspired 
apostles, nor in the writings of the Evangelists, the slightest 
reference to a period of such unparalleled purity and peace 
as the Old Testament Prophecies every where represent 
as still to be enjoyed upon the earth. Yet in the New 
Testament, so interwoven are the intimations of the Coming 
of the Lord and Resurrection of the saints with all reference 
to the Millennium, that if these events are placed after 
that happy time, then undeniably there is not the most 
distant allusion unto it. If Paul refers to the Millennium 
as the period when the sons of Abraham shall be again 
grafted into their own olive, " and so all Israel shall be saved, *' 
it is when " The Deliverer shall come out of Zion." Rom. xi. 
26. If Peter alludes to the Millennium as " the times of the 
restitution of all things/' he asserts that then the Lord " shall 
send Jesus Christ/' Acts iii. 17, 20. If the same apostle 
refers to the Millennium when the promise of God uttered 
by Isaiah should be fulfilled, of • ( new heavens and a new 
earth," when Jerusalem shall be created a joy, and her 
people a rejoicing; still with these new heavens, and this new 
earth " wherein dwelleth righteousness," our views are again 



Sect. XVII.] OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM. 



113 



directed to " the coming of the day of God," which " day 
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." 2 Pet. iii. 
10 — 13. If our Lord himself points to the restoration of 
Israel at the Millennium when he calls upon the Jews then to 
"look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption 
draweth nigh," it is when the signs preceding His " com- 
ing in a cloud/' begin to come to pass. Luke xxi. 27, 28. 
Or if he alludes to the Millennial Kingdom which the God 
of heaven shall set up at the destruction of Antichrist, when 
"the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the king- 
dom, under the whole heaven, shall be given to the saints of the 
Most High still this " kingdom of God is nigh at hand" 
only, when the indications of His Return are observable. 
Dan. vii. 27. Luke xxi. 27—31. Or if Paul speaks of the 
destruction of the Man of sin, which shall immediately 
precede the Millennium, he asserts that him shall the Lord 
u destroy with the brightness of His coming!^ 2 Thess. 
ii. 8. Does the same apostle again allude to the change 
upon the Inferior creation at the Millennial period, as the 
removal of a burden they have been made to endure ? — still 
" the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the 
manifestation of the sons of God. . . .waiting for the adop- 
tion, the redemption of oi/r body."* 

If such predictions really contain allusions to the Millen- 
nium, so also are they intimately connected with the Sa- 
viour's Return and resurrection of His saints. But if these 
do not contain allusions to the Millennium, then are there 
no references to it in either the Gospels or Epistles. And 
can it be believed that these should be wholly destitute of 
allusion to a glory which all the prophets have announced, 
and of which prophetic Bards have sung in strains of high- 
est rapture — the contemplation of which sustained them 
while pourtraying the dismal scenes which had to intervene 
— to picture forth which, images the most splendid have been 
employed — whose distant prospect cheered the heart of 
many an aged pilgrim, and its certain bequest to a much- 
loved offspring soothed his dying hour ? It is altogether 
incredible, that themes which wakened every holy harp, 

* These passages are here brought together merely for the pur- 
pose of showing their connections. All of them will afterwards be 
more particularly examined, and their evidence be more fully elicited, 
when individually made the subject of future consideration. 

K 



\ 



114 VIEWS HELD IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE [Sect. XVII, 

and prospects which were held out to the faith of believers 
from earliest time, as the consolation of a suffering church, 
should have been either unprized or unnecessary at a 
period so much nearer its commencement. There is no 
room to question, no reason to doubt, that they both saw 
and rejoiced in the coming glory. With the Return of that 
Master for whom they took joyfully the spoiling of their 
goods, and in testimony to whose Messiahship they cheer- 
fully laid down their lives, they beheld the realization of 
the Church's hopes, and the establishment of the predicted 
"kingdom/' They knew that the heavens had received 
their Lord only " until the times of the restitution of all 
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth all his holy 
prophets since the world began;" for unto them was 
" made known the mystery of God's will according to his 
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that, in 
the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather 
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven 
and which are on earth/' Acts iii. 21. Ephes. i. 9, 10. To 
his Return, then, was their faith continually directed, and 
for this they vehemently longed. The bright visions of 
futurity had neither been withdrawn nor had they lost their 
interest, but were all to be realized in the glorious day of 
their returning Lord. 

This view may be shown to be in perfect accordance 
with the declarations of the Saviour and of his apostles. 
It has been already seen that the prophets hold out the 
prospect of One who shall redeem Israel from all the evils 
to which they have been exposed — from bondage as well 
as from sin. They expatiate with delight, and in the lofti- 
est language, on the dignity of his person, the power he shall 
possess, the homage he shall receive, and the extent and 
happiness of his kingdom. And whatever interpretation 
we may now choose to put upon such predictions, it is 
known to all, that, at the period of our Lord! s incarnation, 
the Jews were in expectation of a glorious Deliverer, who 
should restore them to independence, and reign over them 



in Zion. With the great majority, this mistake had a two- 
fold origin. They were unwilling to receive a suffering 
Messiah — and they applied to their times predictions which 
had no reference unto them. They were ignorant of their 
need of a Mediator, and they desired an immediate ful- 




SECT. XVII.] OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM. 115 



filment of prophecies which related, as we have seen, to a 
period after they should have been dispersed " into all na- 
tions. " This last mistake, however, was not peculiar to 
those by whom he was rejected, but was entertained by His 
disciples, and even by His apostles, till the very last hour of 
his abode among them. Their receiving Him in his humility, 
as the promised Messiah, did not lead them to a renuncia* 
tion of their hopes that he would yet take to him his great 
power and reign. The angel who had been sent to the 
blessed virgin with the glad tidings of his birth, assured 
her that " the Lord God shall give unto him the throne 
of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of 
Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.'' 
Luke i. 32. Notwithstanding, therefore, of his present humil- 
ity, they still looked for the establishment of his kingdom ; 
and when, on one occasion, He was nigh to Jerusalem, 
and " they thought that the kingdom of God should im- 
mediately appear," the Saviour spake a parable to correct 
their mistake. Luke xix. 11. This parable of " a certain 
nobleman who went into a far country to receive a king- 
dom and to return" while it proves their error with re- 
spect to the time of Christ's establishing his visible king- • 
dom, left them every reason to conclude that they were 
perfectly right in the substance of their expectations — the 
fulfilment of all the promises made in their favour by the 
prophets, when unto them " shall it come, even the first 
dominion ; the Kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jeru- 
salem ;" and when " the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount 
Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." 
The establishment of that kingdom which they thought 
" should immediately appear" the Saviour gave them 
reason to expect when he shall u return," havi?ig obtained 
the kingdom he has gone to receive. It deserves to be no- 
ticed, also, that the case of a nobleman going into a far 
country, intrusting his servants with money that they may 
testify their love by a right occupation of his property in the 
interval, and returning after he has received a kingdom, 
suggests an idea of subsequent continued residence- 
which ill comports with the views generally entertained of 
Christ's coming merely for the purpose of pronouncing sen- 
tence upon all. The parable distinctly intimates, that, 
after a certain time, the Saviour will return to the possess 

k2 



116 VIEWS OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM. [Sect. XVII. 

sion of that Millennial kingdom which the circumstances 
show believers at that time expected. 

Nor did the crucifixion of our blessed Lord destroy the 
hopes of his disciples, founded, as they were, on that " sure 
word of Prophecy" to which the Church now gives so little 
heed. While he lay in the sealed tomb, indeed, these hopes 
might seem almost annihilated ; and, uncertain whether He 
were not still within Death's dark domain, the two who 
journeyed towards Emmaus, in the sorrow of their hearts, 
could only say, " we trusted that it had been He which 
should have redeemed Israel." (Luke xxiv. 21.) But no 
sooner were their agitated bosoms calmed by the assurance 
of their Lord's resurrection, than the divine promises con- 
cerning the erection of his Kingdom recurred to their re- 
collection. The tidings that He lived again at once tes- 
tified the acceptance of His sacrifice, and proved beyond a 
doubt, that, in Him, Heaven's most glorious prophecies 
might yet be accomplished. Their faith in the truth of 
God's word now remained unshaken ; and again they con- 
fidently trusted that the Messiah should fulfil all that the , 
prophets had foretold concerning Him. They questioned 
not the certainty of the divine predictions, although they 
were ignorant of the period of their accomplishment. Thus 
immediately before Christ's ascension to heaven, and after 
he had been with them forty days — " speaking of the things 
pertaining to the kingdom of God" — their last question to 
him was,/' Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the 
kingdom to Israel ?" Acts i. 3, 6. " Nor did the Saviour re- 
prove them for cherishing expectations of a nature incon- 
sistent with his design, as he did on occasions when this 
was really the case, — and as might certainly have been 
expected had their views been as erroneous as many sup- 
pose. On the contrary, he gave them every reason to 
believe, (had the slightest doubt rested on their minds,) 
that their hopes were indeed well-founded, but that it was 
not for them "to know the times and the seasons, which 
the Father hath put in his own power." The passage 
.clearly proves, that, at the period of the Saviour's ascension, 
his apostles did expect that he should personally restore 
the kingdom to Israel, — and it also proves, (which is to 
us of more consequence,) that our Lord fully sanctioned 
these expectations, although he gave them no information 
of the time of their accomplishment. 



Sect. XVIII.] 



PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN. 



117 



SECTION XVIIL 

NEW TESTAMENT PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN 
AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 

Although in Scripture no express date is given at which 
the Saviour shall return, and although of that day or hour 
knoweth no man, yet both He and his apostles have fur- 
nished us with certain intimations of a general nature, and 
of its connection with certain events which prove it to be 
at the commencement of the -Millennium, This is evident 
from His own declarations, as recorded, Mat. xxiii. xxiv. 
xxv. and corresponding passages of other gospels, which, 
being the most direct intimations the Saviour himself has 
left of the time of his coming, merit our especial notice. 
Any consistent explanation of these chapters seems alto- 
gether incompatible with those systems which place the 
personal return of Christ subsequent to the Millennium. 
Much ingenuity has been exercised, and the most incon- 
gruous theories of explication have been formed, to bring 
them into subjection to the current theology on the subject 
of the glorious advent. With a most culpable negligence 
of, or recklessness to, the Saviour's statements, these predic- 
tions have been tortured into many a meaning, and moulded 
into many a shape, by those professing reverence for his 
character and obedience to his laws. One has not scrupled 
to assert, that our blessed Lord used a pious fraud in 
deceiving his disciples; while others have sinfully im- 
posed upon his language meanings it can never bear. 
Some have represented the Coming of which he here speaks, 
as having taken place in the destruction of Jerusalem: 
others have, with no less inconsistency, supposed His 
coming to have been in the after extension of the Roman 
arms ; and although it is to be " with the clouds of heaven/ 5 
it has even been interpreted to mean " the successful 
'preaching of the gospel /" Some again have represented 
the whole as referring to the consummation of all things ; 
while others jumble together what is said of the destruction 
of Jerusalem and the temple with a supposed reference to 
the consummation of all things, as spoken of indiscrimi- 
nately ! All this inconsistency and confusion appears to 

k 3 



118 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN [Sect. XVI1L 



arise from a determination to bring the predictions into accor- 
dance with preconceived ideas of the time of the Saviour's 
coming.* Attention to them will at once demonstrate the 
fallacy of all these opinions, and prove that our Lord's re- 
turn is at the period of the restoration of his ancient people, 
before the Millennium, as recorded of the Messiah by 
the Prophets. 

For the last time, Jesus was now in the Temple, and 
exposed with unsparing severity the hypocrisy of the 
Scribes and Pharisees. He reproves them for their hard- 
ness of heart, in persecuting the prophets and rejecting Him- 
self, and denounces upon them coming judgments. He then 
utters the tender expostulation and lamentation, " O Jer- 
usalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and 
stonest them that are sent unto thee ; how often would I 
have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her chickens 
under her wings, and ye would not. [Observe what fol- 
lows.] Behold your House is left unto you desolate, for 
I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall 
say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." 
Matt, xxiii. 37 — 39. He shall not be seen of them 

* When Dr. Hamilton occupied so large a portion of his book 
with the real and supposed discrepancies of Millenarian writers* 
respecting unrevealed or little known details, he could not be 
ignorant, th$t, with half the zeal and industry he has displayed in 
this, he might easily have formed a volume of such comments upon 
the palpable inconsistencies of approved Antimillenarian authors, 
with respect to the Scripture declarations concerning the Coming 
itself. But if, instead of referring directly to the divine standard 
as the test of our opinions, such a mode of reasoning were adopted 
in other cases, every truth revealed might be easily overthrown by 
simply arraying against it the conflicting opinions of men. Con- 
clusions unfavourable to the doctrine of our Lord's Millennial 
reign, drawn from such premises, are not more admissible than 
would be the attempt to disprove the reality of His resurrection or 
ascension, by adducing the fact that his disciples afterwards disputed 
about the necessity of circumcision. But it may be proper still to 
remind the Reverend Doctor, that, if the inconsistencies of its 
friends can be received as evidence against the truth of any doc- 
trine, they must bear with much greater force against that system 
which has long been openly espoused, and concerning which full 
opportunity has been thus afforded to its advocates, of maturing, 
comparing, and correcting their opinions ; than against that which 
has only recently been rescued from the oblivion to which for ages 
it had been consigned, and with the details of which Christians are 
yet but imperfectly acquainted. 



SECT. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 119 

u henceforth" till a certain time. As they then saw 
Him 'personally, so their not seeing Him "henceforth," 
for a specific period, must be in the same sense, and there- 
fore implies His personal absence in the interim. But the 
duration of this absence is coeval with that of the Temple's 
desolation : " Behold your House is left unto you desolate, 
For, [the reason why it will be so, "for"] 1 say unto you, 
ye shall not see me henceforth." Still, however, both are 
only for a limited time, " till " they shall call Him 
Blessed, This clearly refers not to the individuals imme- 
diately addressed. These were the Scribes and Pharisees, 
on whom He had just denounced a "woe" of condemna- 
tion, as men who could not " escape the damnation of hell." 
ver. 33. Never, therefore, will such call Him " blessed." 
They would not do so at the overthrow of their city ; they 
will not do so when raised to punishment. But they were 
the rulers, and therefore the representatives of the Jewish 
nation, who, at their conversion, will, indeed, bless that 
Saviour they have so long execrated : "ye shall not see 
me, henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh 
in the name of the Lord" This exclamation, taken from 
the 118th Psalm, had shortly before been shouted by the 
multitude as He entered Jerusalem ; (Matt. xxi. 9.) and 
was, on this occasion, repeated by the children in the 
Temple, (xxi. 15.) Jesus now declares that He shall thus 
be welcomed by th.em at his Return — for they shall say 
" Blessed is He that cometh" Their conversion will not, 
therefore, take place till the time of His Coming, — till wil- 
ling cordially to hail Him as their long-expected Messiah. 
He would not " henceforth'' be seen by them till then ; but at 
the commencement of the Millennium, when this moral change 
is effected on their hearts, and when the desolation of the 
Temple, (which was to be coeval with His absence,) shall 
cease — being rebuilt as we have already shown after their 
restoration — then He shall Return, — personally return, 
and shall be again seen by His ancient people, who ac- 
knowledging him as the " sent'* of the Lord, will now 
joyfully exclaim, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name 
of the Lord." 

Having delivered this important prediction, the Saviour 
now departed from the Temple; and, followed by his dis- 
ciples, (ruminating on the import of the denunciation just 



120 



PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST^ RETURN [Sect. XVIII. 



uttered,) He retired to the mount of Olives, the place of 
his frequent resort : " And Jesus went out, and departed 
from the Temple ; and his disciples came to him for to 
show him the buildings of the Temple.'' (xxiv. 1.) It was 
indeed a magnificent structure; and as they contemplated 
its threatened desolation, they were ready to exclaim, in 
the pathetic language perhaps, as also in the spirit of pro- 
phetic lamentation, " Our holy and beautiful House, where 
our fathers praised thee !" They point to its superlative 
grandeur, as if imploring its preservation from the impending 
destruction, saying, " Master, see what manner of stones, 
and what buildings are here/' (Markxiii. 1.) This, how- 
ever, only calls forth a repetition of the afflicting prediction : 
" And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things ? 
Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here 
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." 
ver. 2. This solemn asseveration of their Master at once 
negatived their hopes, and prevented farther importunity 
for the preservation of the Temple. i\ssured with certainty 
of its fate, and remembering the prediction He had so re- 
cently delivered within its walls, they now inquire con- 
cerning both the commencement and termination of the 
predicted desolation: "And as he sat upon the Mount 
of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, say- 
iug, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what 
shall be the sign of thy Coming, and of the end of 
the world ? " By recalling to our remembrance what 
Jesus had foretold before leaving the Temple — a predic- 
tion which would make no transient impression on the 
minds of His Jewish disciples — we shall be better pre- 
pared to understand the important questions now ad- 
dressed to Him, and the grounds which suggested their 
combination. Unconnected as these questions must at first 
sight appear, they are, we humbly apprehend, both nat- 
urally and intimately connected. The Saviour had just 
assured them of the destruction of the Temple : and, as we 
have already shown, had shortly before predicted its con- 
tinued desolation till the time of His coming. The disci- 
ples, therefore, here first ask, " when " its destruction 
will take place : ** when shall these things be ?" — the 
temple's being utterly "thrown down and they next 
inquire concerning the termination of this desolation, by 



SECT. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 



121 



inquiring for the sign of the Saviours " coming," which , 
from His prediction in the Temple, they had been taught 
to connect with the close of that desolation : " Behold 
your House is left unto you desolate, for, I say unto you, 
ye shall not see me, henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed 
is He that cometh." But, in their second question, 
they also connect the time of His " coming ,? with 
"the end of the world" — or age* Nothing had pre- 
viously been said by the Saviour, at least nothing is here 
recorded as previously said, of " the end of the age." But 
the disciples were not ignorant of Prophecy, and they were 
able to observe and attend to its intimations. And thus it 
was, we have no doubt, they learned to connect the com- 
ing of the Lord with the end of the age. From a prophecy 
given by Daniel, they had already ascertained the precise era 
of Christ's appearance in the world ; and, by their acquaint- 
ance with this same prediction, and the remembrance of 
what had so recently fallen from their Master's lips, they 
would be enabled to connect the time of Christ's return with 

* 44 The greatest respect is unquestionably due to the Authorized 
English Translation ; but the Original must ever remain the stan- 
dard of doctrine and interpretation to persons in any degree quali- 
fied by education to search after the mind of the Spirit through the 
medium of that language in which it is primarily expressed. The 
indiscriminate usage of the term worlds as a common rendering of 
xoffpoS) otxovftivv, and uiuv, each of which appears to have a distinct 
signification, must necessarily occasion some ambiguity in those 
passages wherein any two of them are used in connection ; and if 
this ambiguity should, in any degree, be removed by the simple 
substitution of more appropriate and analogous expressions, some 
light may be thrown upon subjects of the greatest concern and mo- 
ment. Take, for instance, a passage in the same Evangelist, where 
xoffpos and aim are used in the same connection, and both trans- 
lated 'world.' (Matt. xiii. 38.) 'The field is the world.* The 
6 harvest is the end of the world.' 4 So shall it be in the end of this 
world.' On perusing the passage in which these words appear, any 
plain mind must draw the inference, that at the destruction of this 
material globe, the procedure, represented under the figure of a 
harvest, would take place ; but when it appears in the original that 
different words are used; that the 44 world" which is thefield\§xo<rfAos, 
mundus, universe; and the 44 world" which is then to end, is ««wv, scecu- 
lum, age ; and that 4 this world ' refers to the word signifying age, 
and not to that which signifies universe ; the natural and obvious 
inference would rather be, 4 when this age of the world shall end, then 
shall the harvest come.' "■ — Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations 
of the Christian Church. By Basilicus, — p. 31. 



122 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN [Sect. XVIII. 



the end of the age. Daniel had foretold that, after the 
Messiah was "cut off/' the city and the Sanctuary should 
be destroyed, by the people of the Prince who should come 
against J udea ; and that these he should " make desolate, even 
until the consummation" or end. Dan. ix. 27. Now, as 
the Saviour had himself predicted the duration of that very 
desolation as coeval with the continuance of His absence, 
his disciples, equally desirous of information concerning 
both, ask " When shall these things be ? and what shall 
be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age ?" 

From the 4th to the 14th verse, the Saviour gives them 
a general outline of what should take place up to " the end' 9 
of the age, cautioning them against false Christs who should 
arise, and warning them against the supposition, that when 
they should hear of wars and rumours of wars that this end 
had arrived : — " but the end is not yet" He shows them 
that this was but the commencement of long continuing 
affliction to which the Jews should afterwards be exposed, 
—"all these are the beginning of sorrows/' ver. 8. In the 
9th and 10th verses he predicts the persecutions under 
Pagan Rome ; and, probably, in the two following verses, 
alludes to the Papal Antichrist, in the continued succes- 
sion of Popes, as the " many false prophets/' who should 
rise and " deceive many;" and by the establishment of 
whose abominations " iniquity shall abound," and " the 
love of many shall wax cold/' In the 13th verse he 
exhorts to stedfastness in maintaining the truth, and in the 
14th adds, " And this gospel of The Kingdom shall be 
preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, 
[not that it shall have been universally received by them 
for 1000 years,] and then shall the end come' — the " end 
of the age" about which they were inquiring. This ap- 
pears to be the natural and proper exposition of this part 
of the chapter; although some have laboured hard to make 
this end of the world, or age, appear to be the destruction 
of the Jewish polity. But, besides that Christianity had 
made considerable progress before the destruction of Jeru- 
salem and the Temple, there is no authority whatever for 
supposing that event the termination of " the age," — that 
" consummation" or end being placed by Daniel not at 
the commencement, but at the close of the desolation of 
the, city and sanctuary: u he shall make desolate even 



SECT. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 



123 



until the consummation!' Dan, ix. 27. It is also to be 
remembered, that in the latter question of the disciples, 
this end of the age was connected with the coming of 
Christ : " What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of 
the end of the age/' * Having thus given them a very 
condensed view of events up to the end of the age, the 
Saviour, in the 15th verse, returns, and becoming more 
minute in the specification of particulars, points to the 
duration of the afflictions upon the Jews, and gives far- 
ther instructions to be recorded for the guidance and di- 
rection of those living in the periods to which His pre- 
dictions referred, and who were more particularly inter- 
ested : " When ye*, therefore, [this being an inference 
relative to their conduct drawn from the former chronolo- 
gical part'of His discourse — " when ye therefore"} shall see 
the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the 
prophet,, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth let him 
understand,) then let them which be in Judea flee into 
the mountains — let him which is on the house-top not come 
down to take any thing out of his house ; neither let him 
which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And 
woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give 
suck in those days." The parenthetical injunction clearly 
implies a danger of mistake ; and the neglect of this very 
warning has probably occasioned much of the confusion in 
which commentators have involved the chapter. As the pre- 
diction of the prophet, from which we have already quoted, 
not only shows to what our Lord immediately refers, but will 
also assist us in another part of the inquiry, we shall now 
cite fully the passage to which our attention is thus partic- 
ularly called: " Know therefore and understand, that 
from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to 
build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven 
[prophetic] weeks, and threescore and two weeks : the street 
shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 
And after threescore and two weeks [of years] shall Messiah 
be cut off, but not for himself : and the people of the prince 

* Dr. Hamilton, (p. 156,) affects to discredit the distinction be- 
tween KOffpos and aim, but the Examinator, in the Christian Instructor, 
whose papers the Doctor highly eulogizes, admits that ki the end of 
the world," in the question of the disciples, is literally the " com* 
pletion of the age." — Christian Instructor, p. 533. 



]24 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST^ RETURN [Sect. XVIII. 



that shall come, shall destroy the city and the Sanctuary: 
and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the 
end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall 
confirm the covenant with many for one week ; and in the 
midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the 
oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abomina- 
tions he shall make it desolate, even until the consumma- 
tion, and that determined shall be poured upon the deso- 
late/' — or desolator. Dan. ix. 25, 26, 27. Our only re- 
mark on this, at present, is, that the prophet evidently refers 
to the Romans as " the people of the prince that shall 
come," and to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple 
by that of " the city and the Sanctuary/' together with 
the continuance of their desolation " for the overspreading 
of abominations/' But although the Saviour clearly refers 
to this destruction of the city, and warns his followers to 
escape when they should see the period arrive, it- is diffi- 
cult to conceive how any should have thought of applying 
to that event what He afterwards states respecting his 
coming, in answer to the second question of his disciples. 
Such a misapplication is the more surprising, as He has 
carefully guarded against false ideas of the nature of his 
coming. Having predicted a period of the greatest tribu- 
lation that ever was or shall be, He warns them, in the 
24th verse, against false Christs and false prophets who 
shall arise, and adds, '.' Wherefore, if they shall say unto 
you, Behold He is in the Desert, go not forth : Behold He 
is in the secret chambers, believe it not; For, [this is the 
reason why they are not to go into the desert seeking Him, 
"for 1 ] as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth 
even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of 
Man be." When He comes, therefore, it will be in no 
secret influence on the soul ; no mere display of power in 
the infliction of judgments ; no coming to be known only 
in a chamber or witnessed only in a desert — but a bright 
and glorious manifestation of himself, instantaneous and 
seen of all, — as the lightning which " cometh out of the 
east and shineth even unto the west." " Behold he com- 
eth with clouds," said the beloved disciple, long after the 
destruction of Jerusalem, yet repeating nearly the very 
words of the Saviour s prediction in the following verse, 
which is so often misapplied to the destruction of Jerusa- 



Sect. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 



125 



lem : " Behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye 
shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all 
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." Rev. i. 7. 
Having warned them against mistake or deception with 
respect to the nature of his coming, the Saviour proceeds 
more particularly to inform his disciples when this glorious 
event shall take place : " Immediately after the tribula- 
tion of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the 
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from 
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ; 
and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in hea- 
ven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and 
they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of 
heaven, [or, as in the parallel gospel by Luke, (xxi. 27.) " in 
a cloud,"] with power and great glory : and he shall send 
his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall 
gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end 
of heaven to the other. " In order, therefore, to know the 
period of our Saviour's return, it is only necessary to ascer- 
tain when " the tribulation" here spoken of shall cease. 
For this we are furnished with three keys. The first may 
be found in the passage already quoted from the prophe- 
cies of Daniel. We there learn, that " unto the end of 
the war desolations are determined," and that, " for the 
overspreading of abominations," the city shall be made 
desolate, " even until the consummation, and that deter- 
mined shall be poured upon the desolate," — or, (as cor- 
rected in the margin?) " upon the desolator." It is to this 
continuance of the desolation, we apprehend, our attention 
is especially directed by the parenthetical warning of the 
Saviour or evangelist, " whoso readeth let him understand;" 
— the full knowledge of its duration being necessary in 
order to the understanding of the prediction of his Return, 
" immediately after the tribulation of those days." The 
" consummation" has not yet arrived. God's controversy, 
or "war," with his ancient people has not yet ceased; 
nor has "that determined" been wholly poured upon its 
objects, whether reading "desolate," it is referred to the 
Jews ; or reading " desolator," it is referred to those by 
whom they have been oppressed. But, as we have already 
seen, "the end," or "consummation," will come when the 
gospel has been "preached in all the world for a witness 

L 



126 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST^ RETURN [Sect. XVIIf . 



unto all nation s." God's controversy with his ancient 
people must cease before the Millennium, for then he shall 
have returned to them " with mercies and, as we shall 
afterwards see, this is to be preceded by the infliction of 
dreadful judgments upon their enemies. The Saviour's 
return being " immediately after the tribulation of those 
days" must therefore be before the Millennium.* 

In the 21st verse, we have the second source of evidence, 
in the extent of the tribulation by which the coming of 
Christ shall be preceded : " For then shall be great tribu- 

* Mr. Faber treats as a " vulgar error" the notion that Christ's 
coming in the clouds of heaven was at the destruction of Jeru- 
salem ; {Sacred Calender, vol. i. p. 207) and correctly enough places 
it at the future " close pi the Times of the Gentiles, and at the 
end of the long dispersion of Judah among all nations." But 
contrary to all the principles of homogeneity, so often and so ably 
advocated by himself, he maintains — and that on no higher author- 
ity than his own affirmation — that it will be a " figurative advent." 
And having thus denied that our Lord here predicts His personal 
Return, he subsequently states that " the sole apparent evidence, 
which after long thought on the subject" he has been able to dis- 
cover in favour of the views of Millenarians, is one single text. 
From this exception we are, however, allowed very little advan- 
tage. He might indeed as well have included it at once with the 
others, as it is only doomed to share a similar fate in a more ad- 
vanced part of his argument. But is there a single circumstance in 
the above prediction of our Lord, or in the circumstances which gave 
rise to it, which would lead to the supposition of its being any 
thing else than a personal coming of which the Saviour speaks ? 
The inconsistency of putting upon it a figurative interpretation is 
accurately stated in an observation, (perfectly applicable in the pre- 
sent case,) by the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, in his last published volume 
of Sermons— to which alone, it may be observed, we subsequently 
refer, although for brevity's sake we shall in future merely cite the 
page from which we quote : M Did the words occur," says the Doc- 
tor, (p. 498) speaking of a passage to which we shall yet have occa- 
sion to refer ; " did the words occur in an historical or epistolary 
composition, it would justly be pronounced unnatural (unless we 
were specially warned of the writer's purposed deviation from 
his ordinary style,) to explain them symbolically." And what else 
do those who, without any such " warning," and in opposition to the 
" ordinary style" of both the Saviour and His evangelist, and at 
variance with the nature of the questions to which the prediction is 
professedly the answer, would put upon such language a figurative 
interpretation ? But we cannot here conceal our surprise that Dr. 
Wardlaw, in discussing the subject of Christ's premillennial coming, 
and professing to examine (p. 491) such passages as 44 may seem 
most directly relevant and important," should not have at all ad- 
verted to this most direct and important prediction. 



SEeT. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 127 

lation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to 
this time, no, nor ever shall be ; and except those days 
should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved ; but 
for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. " Now as 
there cannot be two tribulations, each the greatest that 
ever was, this period cannot yet have arrived, for we learn 
from Daniel (xii. 1.) that this greatest tribulation is to be 
at the period of the restoration of Israel : " And at that 
time," — at the destruction of the Ottoman empire, pre- 
dicted in the last verse of the preceding chapter, — " And 
at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which 
standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be 
a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a 
nation, even to that same time; and at that time thy peo- 
ple shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written 
in the book." Here then we find that the time of the 
greatest trouble is to be at the period of the restoration of 
Israel, the children of Daniel's people, when Michael the 
prince stands up in their behalf. This is again declared 
(Jer. xxx. 7, 8 :) " Alas ! for that day is great, so that 
none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble ; 
hut he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass 
in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his 
yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and 
strangers shall no more serve themselves of him." And 
as our Lord himself says, immediately after the tribula- 
tion of those days shall they see the Son of Man coming in 
the clouds of heaven, so the prophet here adds, " They 
shall serve the Lord their God, and The Beloved their 
King, whom I will raise up unto them — " then shall 
be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of 
the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except 
those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be 
saved. But [blessed be God for His promise,] for the 
elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." This pre- 
diction by our Lord, of a period when there should no 
flesh be saved but for the elect's sake, corresponds also 
with another in Isaiah, which also refers to the period 
immediately preceding the time " when the Lord of hosts 
shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before 
His ancients gloriously." Between the part of the predic- 
tion of our Lord concerning His return under consideration, 

l2 



128 PREDICTIONS OP CHRIST'S RETURN [Sect. XVIIL 

and that of the prophet, there is an exact parallel, while 
the prophet also foretells the awful tribulation by which it 
is preceded : " Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty. 
-...Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, 
and few men left! 1 Is. xxiv. 1 — 6, 23. It seems there- 
fore a misapplication of our Lord's prediction of this great- 
est tribulation to refer it to the destruction of Jerusalem, 
although it may have some appearance of being connected 
with the prophecy relative to that event. We apprehend, 
however, that our Lord, having foretold the near destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem and the troubles connected with it, car- 
ries forward the views of believers to the day of the Lord, 
— the long-desired Sabbath, — and to the more dreadful 
tribulation at its commencement, which he contrasts with 
that at the destruction of Jerusalem. This, we think, is 
that " Sabbath," and that " winter" or " tempest/ 7 as the 
word signifies, (see Acts xxvii. 10.) concerning which the 
Saviour enjoins believing Jews to pray their flight be not 
in it. In this as in other cases the prophecy, having re- 
ference to the time of the Saviour's return, is addressed to 
the disciples for the instruction of their brethren in all 
ages. The flight to which he refers appears to be that 
already noticed, when " all nations" shall be gathered 
against Jerusalem to battle after the restoration of Israel, 
when, says the prophet Zechariah, " Ye shall flee, like as 
ye fled from before the earthquake, in the days of Uzziah, 
king of Judah; and [as in our Lord's own prophecy,] the 
Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." 
Zech. xiv. 1 — 5. This being in a time of tribulation so 
much greater than was even that at the destruction of Jer- 
usalem, the Saviour probably directs His disciples of the 
Jewish nation — to whom the prophecy was given, and to 
whose circumstances much of it relates — to pray that they 
be not involved in it. There are various reasons which 
constrain us to think that it is at the 19th verse our Lord 
concludes his directions concerning the conduct of the 
disciples at the destruction of Jerusalem ; and in the 20th 
directs attention forward to the greater tribulation imme- 
diately preceding His coming. It is at the time of this 
" winter, or temjpest" that " then shall be great tribula- 
tion, such as was not since the beginning of the world to 
this time; no, nor ever shall be." Matt. xxiv. 20, 2L 



Sect. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 129 

This time of greatest tribulation, as has been shown, is 
however to be at the restoration of Israel, (Dan. xii. I,) 
and therefore could not be referred to by our Lord as at 
the destruction of Jerusalem formerly. It is spoken of by 
our Lord, as just noticed, to be a time of such great tribu- 
lation, that but for the elect's sake, " no flesh should be 
saved.' ' This, while it accords fully with the predictions 
concerning the time of trouble at the commencement of 
the Millennium, does not appear at all to apply to the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, in which the Jews only were 
involved. Again, the period of trouble referred to by our 
Lord is to be shortened " for the elect's sake/' Neither 
does this, however, correspond with the circumstances con- 
nected with the destruction of Jerusalem, from which the 
Christians Jaad escaped before its calamities commenced, 
and whose escape therefore did not depend on the shorten- 
ing of that trouble. The "tribulation" of which our Lord 
speaks, as being " immediately" preceding His coming, 
must be still future, and is only referable to the unparaL- 
leled troubles at the close of the present Gentile dispensation. 

The return of Christ at the restoration of Israel is ren- 
dered farther evident on attending to the parallel passage of 
the evangelist Luke, who, instead of referring us to Daniel, 
simply embodies in few words the information we have al- 
ready obtained from that prophet : " There shall be great 
distress in the land, and wrath upon this people ; and they 
shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away 
captive into all nations ; and Jerusalem shall be trodden 
down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be 
fulfilled!'' And then follow the signs of Christ's return, 
and the account of the coming itself as given by Matthew : 
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and 
in the stars ; and upon the earth distress of nations, with 
perplexity ; the sea and the waves roaring ; men's hearts 
failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which 
are coming on the earth ; for the powers of heaven shall be 
shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming 
in a cloud, with 'power and great glory!' Luke xxi. 23 
— 27. Jerusalem still is trodden down of the Gentiles, 
and therefore the coming of the Son of Man is an event 
yet future. But we have the full assurance of the Saviour's 
verity that "immediately after the tribulation of those 

l3 



130 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST^ RETURN [Sect. XVIII. 



days," and after certain signs, that then shall be seen the 
Son of Man coming in great glory. And that as it was the 
predictions of His personal absence during the period of the 
temple's desolation which induced the disciples to ask con- 
cerning his "coming; and as it was no "figurative RAveni" 
about which they thus inquired, that so also must it be of His 
personal Return, of which he gave them the signs in reply.* 
These remarks are designed not merely to direct atten- 
tion to the precise period of our Lord's return, but also to 
counteract an erroneous opinion too generally entertained, 
that Christ Himself, in some sense, applies to the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, what he declares of his personal coming 
in the clouds of heaven, when he shall be seen of all the 
kindreds of the earth. Such an opinion can only be ac- 
counted for on the supposition of the total ^oversight of 
those various statements by which it is completely refuted. 
But indeed the language itself in which the coming is an- 
nounced, expressly excludes the possibility of any such con- 
struction. Even if the miseries attending the destruction of 
Jerusalem, rather than any subsequent to that event, had 
been the " tribulation" here spoken of, it is still to be ob- 
served that the coming of the Lord was not to be "4n " 
that tribulation — not even contemporaneously, but — " im- 
mediately after" it, whatever the tribulation itself may 
be. But, as has been proved, this refers to future times ; 

* It is much to be regretted that Dr. Hamilton should at all have 
lent himself to the maintenance of what we must regard as a doctrinal 
error, but still more so, that he has been so little scrupulous about 
the means by which this may be effected. There is often in his 
work a misquotation of Scripture, as well as of the sentiments of 
his opponents, which, to put upon it the most favourable construc- 
tion, betrays a very culpable negligence. Referring to this passage, 
he says, (p. 250,) the coming of our Lord, " was to be accompanied 
by the captivity of the Jews among all nations ; and followed by the 
treading down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles, until the times of the 
Gentiles are fulfilled," and actually proceeds to reason on this 
singular perversion of the passage. What renders this the more 
unaccountable is, that he has adduced this very passage to show that 
the primitive church might have known that the coming of Christ 
could not be so near at hand as they imagined, since He had "#/*- 
firmediih&t Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles until 
the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled." (p. 12.) Yet in the same 
250th page, the Doctor asserts that the advent of which the Re- 
deemer here speaks, 44 was to be succeeded immediately by the 
darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars from 
heaven" ! ! 



SECT. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 131 



to which our attention must still be directed as the period 
immediately after which, or at the Restoration of Israel, 
when Jerusalem has ceased to be trodden down of the 
Gentiles, that then the coming of our Lord shall be glori- 
ously realized, as here declared by Himself and predicted 
by the prophets. 

Again, on the supposition that Christ was not to return till 
after the Millennium; it might well appear surprising that 
He should not have included that long term of holiness and 
happiness among the signs which shall precede his coming. 
After the world had for thousands of years been torn by 
dissension, and been the scene of every wickedness, such a 
lengthened period of universal purity and peace must have 
proved a very notable sign. But, as has been observed, 
the words " immediately after the tribulation of those days," 
prove that the coming of the Saviour shall precede the com- 
mencement of the Millennium, and therefore its existence 
could not have been given as a sign of his approach. 

Still it has always been objected — and it has most unac- 
countably proved a serious difficulty, even to some of those 
who have ably defended this doctrine — that our Lord said, 
"this generation shall not pass till all these things be ful- 
filled and understanding this to refer to the men then 
living, confusion or falsehood has been indirectly charged 
upon the blessed Saviour. But it is obvious that if there 
had been the slightest force in the objection as bearing 
against the doctrine of our Lord's return before the Millen- 
nium, it must bear with at least equal force against all 
who suppose his coming to be after it. For if all these 
things were to be fulfilled before those then alive had died, 
then it can in no way refer to the consummation of all things, 
as this would be to assert that all was not fulfilled for at 
least about 3000 years after their death. No one who 
believes in the Saviour's truthfulness need be reminded, that 
he never could say that he should be seen coming in the 
clouds of heaven, and that the elect should be gathered from 
one end of heaven to the other by his angels, before the 
people then upon the earth should have ceased to live. 
Such a supposition, while it overlooks the fact that he had 
just fixedrthai-event as subsequent to the fulfilment of the 
times of the Gentiles, also charges the Saviour with direct 
falsehood, a blasphemy which ought instantly to have sug- 



132 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN [Sect. XVIII. 



gested the necessity of some other explanation.* Indeed it 
appears remarkable that the expression should ever have 
occasioned any difficulty either to those who maintain, or 
to those who oppose the Millennial reign of Christ. Tmcc, 
the word translated " generation/' has for one of its sig- 
nifications " a race, n implying succession from father to 
son ; and of thirty-nine instances we have examined in 
which it occurs in the New Testament, twenty-two are, in 
Beza's Latin translation rendered gens and natio, words 
always signifying a people or nation. The last of these 
renderings, indeed, our English translators have themselves 
given it in Phillipians ii. 15, (" in the midst of a crooked 
and perverse nation ;") and by merely adopting the same 
translation in this passage, every obscurity is removed. 
Our Saviour's meaning in the expression will then be, that 
notwithstanding that he had just predicted unparalleled 
sufferings to which the Jewish nation should be subjected 
— being carried captive into all nations, having their capi- 

* Dr. Hamilton observes (p, 250,) that " to look at the words of 
our Lord, and then say that 4 immediately after,' means more than 
eighteen centuries ; and that 'this generation shall not pass till all 
these things be fulfilled,' signifies merely till some of them be ac- 
complished ; discovers no ordinary degree of critical hardihood. 
This hardihood," he adds, 44 has frequently been displayed. n 
Whether the Doctor had in view any recent instance, is not for us 
to determine ; certain it is, however, that in the very page which 
records the censure, and in others, he himself has so limited the ex- 
pression, by making the passage refer, primarily and principally," 
to Christ's 44 return to destroy the Jewish capital." We need make 
no farther remark on the unscriptural notion of Christ's return 
for that purpose, an opinion unsupported as we have seen by the 
only authority on which it is supposed to rest, and as we shall shortly 
show directly opposed to the express declaration of one of the holy 
apostles. But unless the Doctor can suppose that all is accomplished 
when what 44 was primarily and principally intended " has been ful- 
filled, he must submit himself to the chastisement his own reproof 
was designed to inflict. If the Doctor had nothing else to fear than 
the demolition of his own argument against the expectations of the 
primitive church, this ought to have prevented his falling into such 
a mistake. But when our Lord declares, Luke xxi. 24, that 44 Jer- 
usalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the 
Gentiles be fulfilled," and adds in the 32d verse, 44 verily I say unto 
you, this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled," will 
even the Doctor have the 44 critical hardihood " to affirm that our 
Lord ever could mean that the times of the Gentiles, which are not 
yet expired, should be fulfilled ere the men then alive went down to 
the dust ? 



Sect. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 133 



tal laid waste and subject to the power of ruthless spoilers 
— that still as a nation they should yet continue to exist 
till his return. And as if it were almost incredible that a 
nation could survive such complicated distress, he adds the 
assurance, " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my 
words shall not pass away/'* 

All who oppose the doctrine of Christ's personal reign 
on the earth during the Millennium, build much on a par- 
able, recorded Mat. xxv. 31. "When the Son of Man 
shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with Him, 
then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before 
Him shall be gathered all nations ; [ — or rather, as it is in 
the Original, "all the nations ;"] and He shall separate 
the one from the other, as a shepherd divideth his sheep 
from the goats ; and he shall set the sheep on His right 
hand, but the goats on the left. ' Then shall the King say 
unto them on His right hand, Come ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world ; for I was an hungered," &c. &c. 
k From this it has been inferred, that Christ's coming will not 
be till the consummation of all things, because He is re- 
presented as gathering "all nations" before Him ; and con- 
sequently, it is supposed, the whole human race. There 
is, it must be acknowledged, considerable difficulty in 

* While the first edition was passing through the press, a work 
published in 1770, by the Rev. S. Hardy, Lecturer at Enfield, Mid- 
dlesex, was put into our hands, in which nearly the same view is 
given of this passage. He does not appear to have observed the 
translation of Phil. ii. 15, but refers as authority in support of the 
above rendering to Beza, Chrysostom, Erasmus, Pasor, and Mede. 
We have since ascertained that the same interpretation of the pas- 
sage has been offered by many others. Among the most eminent of 
these in the present day, is the Rev. Mr. Faber. In his " Sacred Cal- 
ender of Prophecy " precisely the same view of the signification of 
this word is given, supported by numerous authorities. He states 
indeed that " the primary meaning of the word is a race, or family , 
or nation." (vol. i. p. 264.) His testimony is the more valuable from 
its being contained in a work decidedly Antimillenarian. If the 
opinion of the church were generally corrected with respect to the 
time of Christ's coming, his mere assertion of its being a figurative 
advent (and he really offers no higher authority, however frequent- 
ly he repeats that assertion,) would convince few that Christ's 
•'coming with the clouds of heaven" attended by his angels, who shall 
gather together his elect from the four winds, will be any thing else 
than His Personal Return. 



134 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN [ Sect. XVTII. 



ascertaining, precisely, our Lord's design in this parable ; 
but we believe it was intended to have a much more limited 
application than it often receives. It is generally assumed, 
that "all nations/' here, includes not only the whole of 
mankind alive at the time, but also the whole of the human 
family who have ever lived, or ever will. This is, however, 
an unwarrantable assumption. TcttQvn, translated " nations," 
is never, in any way, applied to the dead, so far as we 
can discover. Even in English, the word nations is only 
applied to men in their earthly relations — such distinctions 
being lost in the future state. But the term here used in 
the Original, although it signifies "the nations" in a general 
sense, has also a more limited signification, being very 
frequently restricted to the Gentiles only, as distinguished 
from the Jews. Thus, in these very predictions it is so 
used when the Saviour says, " Jerusalem shall be trodden 
down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be 
fulfilled." (Luke xxi. 24.) Again, when He sent forth 
the apostles, he said unto them, " Go not into the way of the 
Gentiles. . . .but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of 
Israel." Mat. x. 5, 6. It is used in the same sense in the 
blessing of the aged Simeon, " A light to lighten the Gen- 
tiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." Luke ii. 32. It 
is often so used by Paul : " Wherefore remember," says he 
to the Ephesians, " that ye being in time past Gentiles in 
the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which 
is called the Circumcision." Ephes. ii. 11. Again, speak- 
ing of the mystery of the gospel, he says, " it is now re- 
vealed unto the holy apostles and prophets, by the Spirit, 
that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs." Ephes. iii. 6. In 
the parable, it might therefore be rendered, " and before 
Him shall be gathered all the Gentiles?'* In the pro- 
phecies, also, the expression " all nations," is sometimes 
used where the whole human family alive are evidently not 
included. It is the very expression used by the prophet 
Zechariah, in reference to the destruction of Antichristian 
nations, at the coming of the Lord before the Millennium ; 
to which prophecy our Lord probably alluded : " Behold 
the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided 

* Of Eighty -seven times in which the " Gentiles" are mentioned 
in the New Testament, in above eighty we have this very word. 



Sect. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 135 



in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against 
Jerusalem to battle ; and the city shall be taken, and the 
houses rifled, and the women ravished ; and half of the 
city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the peo- 
ple shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord 
go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought 
in the day of battle/' Zech. xiv. 1 — 3. This is repeated, 
Joel iii. 1,2 : " For, behold, in those days, and in that 
time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and 
Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring 
them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead 
with them there for my people, and for my heritage Israel, 
whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted 
my land." And again, the Lord threatens the utter destruc- 
tion of " all nations,'' when, it will be admitted, it cannot 
be absolutely understood of the whole human family. 
" Come near, ye nations, to hear ; and hearken, ye people : 
let the earth hear, and all that is therein ; the world, and 
all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the 
Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies ; 
he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to 
the slaughter." Is. xxxiv. 1, 2. To this dreadful event, 
it is probable, our Lord, in the parable, refers, when he 
shall destroy the nations which have so long been favoured 
with the blessings of his gospel without availing themselves 
of its privileges ; and when his own people shall be made 
participants of the joy and honour of his millennial king- 
dom. That the description is not that of the general final 
judgment is evident from the circumstance that all the 
" nations/'* here spoken of, must have been favoured with 
the gospel among them. The ground of acquittal, or con- 
demnation, respects only the love which has been displayed 
towards the saints. This rule of judgment is therefore 
inapplicable to those of heathen nations who have gone 
down to the dust, without having ever heard the Saviour's 
name, or known one poor disciple. Farther, this repre- 
sentation cannot be literally understood as applicable to 
all individuals,^ even in the nations called Christian, with- 
out setting the parable in direct opposition to the plain 
statements of Scripture. These nations are represented 
as divided into only two classes. All, therefore, who are 
not found on the right hand must be included among those 



136 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN [Sect. XVIII. 



on the left. But. none are received to the right except 
such as have testified their love to Christ by deeds of 
benevolence to his saints, in circumstances of distress ; al- 
though we have full assurance that all who rely by faith 
on the merits of the Redeemer's blood shall be saved, even 
if grace has been bestowed, when under such circum- 
stances as may deprive them of all opportunity of display- 
ing their love by the deeds to which it prompts — as in the 
case of the penitent thief on the cross. To escape the 
dilemma in which they are thus placed, our opponents 
may say the will is, in such cases, taken for the deed. 
But this is to depart from that literal explanation of the 
parable on which the argument is made to rest — the very 
point for which we plead. It is, therefore, obvious, that 
this cannot be understood as a representation of the final 
judgment* 

But it is to be remarked as not a little surprising, that 
while the direct statements of the period of our Lord's return 
are set aside, no hesitation should be evinced in founding an 
important doctrine on the literal interpretation of the lan- 
guage of a parable— a kind of proof which, in no other 
case, would be received as equivalent to a plain declara- 
tion. The unsuitableness of parables spoken with a general 
design, for establishing a particular and disputed doctrine, 
is well known and generally acknowledged. Indeed, by 
interpreting literally the language of parables, the most 
opposite doctrines may be established as sanctioned by the 
word of God. Thus, in the parable before us, all nations are 
represented as being gathered together — then separated into 
two great companies, — and as having judgment pronounced 
upon the whole of each division simultaneously. But, by 
interpreting literally another parable in the same chapter, 
(ver. 14 to 30, ) we have a very different view of the pro- 
cedure of judgment. In it, each individual is called for- 
ward, singly and successively, to give account of the im- 
provement he has made of the talents intrusted to him ; and 

* Mr. Mason, the Examinator in the Instructor, Dr. Hamilton, 
and a writer in the Edinburgh Theological Magazine, all cling to 
this parable with a tenacity which betrays the consciousness of their 
being destitute of better support. It is not however necessary that 
we should now review their remarks individually, as they all proceed 
upon the assumption of its being a detailed account of the final 
judgment. 



Sect. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 



137 



they, individually, receive rewards proportioned to the zeal 
they have severally displayed in the occupation of the 
talents committed to them. Thus, the consequence of 
interpreting literally the language of these parables, is to 
set Scripture against itself, by applying it to purposes it was 
never designed to serve. 

There is another and most important circumstance over- 
looked when this parable is adduced in confutation of the 
doctrine of Christ's return before the Millennium. The 
two already referred to, and that which precedes them— 
of the ten virgins who had fallen asleep while the Bride- 
groom tarried, and who continued in that state until 
aroused by the announcement of his near arrival — form part 
of a series which our Lord spake in illustration of that de- 
claration of his coming " immediately after the tribulation" 
upon the Jews, and the fulfilment of the times of the Gen- 
tiles.* " Then," or at that time, says the Saviour, "shall 
the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins," &c. 
They can therefore only be referred to the period of his 
Millennial reign. And accordingly it deserves to be noticed, 
that, in the parable on which the objection is founded, 

* The nature and limits of the present publication do not admit 
of our entering upon the consideration of these parables in their con- 
nection with the prediction for the illustration of which they were de- 
livered ; nor of a more enlarged examination of the prediction itself. 
In treating on so many points, embracing in a connected form such 
a multitude of prophecies, for the purpose of presenting in one 
view their combined evidence, brevity of illustration was absolutely 
requisite. But as no view of the Saviour's Return can be considered 
as correct which is at variance with His own statements on the sub- 
ject, the full elucidation of these chapters is of the highest impor- 
tance in the discussion of the doctrine of His Millennial Reign. 
Much additional evidence may yet be derived from them in support 
of the views now maintained, which, if properly exhibited, will add 
greatly to the strength of the Millenarian argument. This the author 
reserves as the subject for a separate publication, in which it is in- 
tended minutely to examine various theories of interpretation, and 
to adduce arguments in favour of the view given above, from the oc- 
casion on which these predictions were delivered — from the circum- 
stances in which they were spoken — the time at which they were 
uttered— the persons to whom they were addressed — the language in 
which they are conveyed — an enlarged consideration of the various 
parabolic illustrations in their proper application to the time of 
Christ's coming — a full comparison of Matthew's narrative with 
those of the other evangelists— from the past and present fulfilment 
of the preceding signs in the history of the church and of the 
world—and other points of evidence. 

M 



138 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST* S RETURN [Sect. XVIIL 



while the Redeemer speaks of himself as " the Son of Man" 
at his coming ; after he has sate down " upon the throne 
of his glory always designates himself "The King." If, 
then, an argument could with propriety be constructed upon 
its language, the objector might find this parable bearing for- 
cibly against his own opinion, when viewed as delivered in 
illustration of Christ's plain declaration of his coming, de- 
scribed in the preceding chapter. Nor is the formality of 
judgment, here represented, inconsistent with the view thus 
given, when compared with other Scriptures. Thus, for 
example, we have in Dan. vii. 9, 10, the destruction of 
Antichrist before the Millennium, part of which has been 
already executed, set forth under the representation of a 
judgment — the thrones being placed, the books opened, &c. 
" I beheld," says the prophet, " till the thrones were cast 
down, [set or placed,] and the x\ncient of Days did sit, 
whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head 
like the pure wool ; his throne was like the fiery flame, and 
his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came 
forth from before him ; thousand thousands ministered unto 
him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him ; 
the judgment was set and the books were opened. 93 Liv- 
ing, as we now are, in the scene referred to, without wit- 
nessing the solemnities here described, the language of the 
prophecy may serve to illustrate that of the parable.* 

* An objection is sometimes founded on another declaration of 
our Lord, " Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here who 
shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his 
Kingdom." Mat. xvi. 28. This is often applied to the destruction 
of Jerusalem, and it is thence inferred, that he will not come in any 
other manner, till the consummation of all things. Although Christ 
had here referred to that event, this could no more have been in op- 
position to the evidence of his personal return at the commencement 
of the Millennium, than it would have subverted the theory of his 
coming at any subsequent period. But not only is the assumption 
of His coming at the destruction of Jerusalem altogether gratuitous, 
and opposed as we shall soon see to Peter's assurance, almost so soon 
as Christ had left the earth, that the heavens must receive him till 
the Restitution of all things, but such an application of the passage 
before us is also at variance with another reference to it by the same 
apostle, which proves that it was to an event of a very different 
character the Saviour alluded. In the preceding verse he had 
spoken of his return " in the glory of his Father, with the holy 
angels." This glory his disciples had expected he would then as- 
sume, and for the confirmation of their faith, that at his return he 
would appear very differently from what he had done in his humility, 



Sect. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 



130 



Shortly after the ascension of Christ, the apostle Peter 
held out to the Jewish nation the assurance of His return 
at the period of their conversion. x\dd res sing them in 
Solomon's porch, after the miraculous cure of the lame 
man, he declared that they had killed the Prince of Life, 
and exhorted them to repentance : "Repent ye, therefore, 
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when 
the Times of Refreshing shall come horn the presence of 
the Lord, and He shall send Jesus Christ which before 
was preached unto you ; whom the heavens must receive 
until the times of Restitution of all things, which God 
hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since 
the world began." Acts iih 19 — 21. Here, then, we may 
observe, is a complete confutation of the idea of Christ's 
return at the destruction of Jerusalem. He had left the 
earth very shortly before the apostle thus declared that the 
heavens must receive him until the times of Restitution. 
We are assured, however, that when these times of refresh- 
ing shall come to Israel, He shall again be sent unto them, 
the heavens receiving him only until the times of restitution 
of all things predicted by the prophets. This is the only 
instance in the New Testament in which the noun here 

he condescended to appear to three of them, as he will be seen by 
all at his future coming, in glorified humanity, attended by two of his 
saints, as recorded in the succeeding context : 44 And after six days, 
Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth 
them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before 
them^ and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white 
as the light. And behold there appeared unto them Moses and 
Elias talking with Him." Mat. xvii. 1 — 3. So, it may be remarked, 
all the three evangelists who record the Saviour's promise, follow 
it immediately with the account of the transfiguration, without inter- 
posing the notice of any other circumstance between their record of 
the promise and the statement of that celestial appearance, which 
seemingly they regard as its early fulfilment. (Matt. xxvi. 28. xxvii. 
1. Mark ix. 1, 2. Luke ix< 27, 28.) And the apostle Peter, one of 
the honoured three who witnessed this transfiguration, elsewhere 
alluding to this appearance in celestial glory, expressly calls it "the 
power and coming" of Christ : " For we have not," says he, 44 fol- 
lowed cunningly-devised fables, when we made known unto you t/ie 
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses 
of his majesty. For he received from God the Father, honour and 
glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent 
glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And 
this voice, which came from heaven, we heard when we were with 
him in the holy mount" 2 Pet. i. 16 — 18. 

M 2 



140 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST^ RETURN [Sect. XVIII. 

translated "Restitution" occurs, but the verb from which 
it is derived is used frequently, and always in the sense of 
restoration ; as when Jesus said unto the man with the 
withered hand, " Stretch forth thine hand. And he 
stretched it forth ; and it was restored whole like as the 
other." Mat. xii. 13. And when the apostles "were 
come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt thou 
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ?" Acts i. 6. 
And that these " times " are no other than those of the 
Millennium is farther obvious from the fact, that there are 
no other " times of restitution of all things which God hath 
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the 
world began," than those exhibited in the preceding pas- 
sages, of the times now called the Millennium. Christ, in 
his divine nature, is every where present, and therefore as 
really here now as he will be then ; but in his human 
nature he left the earth in presence of his disciples, being 
taken up in a cloud, and shall return " in like manner," 
as announced by the angel. He has sate down on His 
Father's throne, and shall continue to sit at his right 
hand " until His enemies be made his footstool. " But 
when thg times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, and the times of 
Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, He 
shall send unto his ancient people — not the Spirit, who is 
already with us, and who has been to the church the 
Comforter in His absence, but — the Redeemer, " Jesus 
Christ." That the "times of Refreshing," anticipated by 
the holy apostle, are not merely times of consolation en- 
joyed by individuals in a state of grace, but of their na- 
tional conversion is manifest. He expressly declares, that, 
when these times of Refreshing have come, the Lord will 
then send Jesus Christ unto them, while yet he affirms 
that the heavens must receive Him till the times of Restitu^ 
tion of all things ; the times of refreshing referred to, must 
therefore be the Millennium as well as those of restitution. 
The Jews consummated their wickedness by the crucifixion 
of the Lord of glory, for which national punishment has 
been awfully intiicted, and is still in store. But they are 
not altogether cast off. When they shall see their iniquity 
in all its extent, and mourn in bitterness on account of it ; 
when the blood of Jesus they wantonly shed, and the 
curse of which with awful infatuation they invoked upon 
themselves and their children, shall be upon them in a 



Sect. XVIII.] AT THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 



141 



blessed sense, "when the times of Refreshing shall come 
from the presence of the Lord," He will then send unto 
them that Jesus whom they formerly despised, and refused 
to acknowledge as the Anointed One.* The Lord seems 
to allude to his rejection by backsliding Israel when he 
says by the mouth of the prophet Hosea, " They will not 
frame their doings to turn unto their God, for the spirit of 
whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not 
known the Lord; and the pride of Israel doth testify to 
his face; therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their 
iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. They shall go 
with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord ; 
but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself 
from them. . . .1 will go and return to my place till they 
acknowledge their offence and seek my face!' Hos. v. 4, 
5, 6, 15. "Repent ye therefore and be converted," says 

* By connecting them with the period when "all nations shall 
serve and obey" the Lord, Dr Hamilton seems to admit (p. 136) 
that 44 the times of Refreshing" are those of the Millennium, but 
afterwards introduces (p. 161) a long quotation from Mr. Faber, in 
which, by an elaborate but unavailing criticism on the word 44 Res- 
titution," he endeavours to evade the force of the passage. If Mr. 
Faber had attended to the fact, that 44 when the times of Refreshing 
shall come," Jesus is to be sent, it might have prevented his em- 
barking in the hopeless enterprize of explaining away the meaning 
of the Greek word translated Restitution, the derivation of which 
secures its signification. If he admits — which it is scarcely possi- 
ble he should deny — that 44 the times of Refreshing" refer to the 
Restoration of Israel to the favour of God, at the Millennium, 
there is no escaping from the conclusion, that then is the time of 
Christ's return. Even if his trivial objection to Mede's construc- 
tion were just, which is not admitted, it may at once be obviated by 
substituting the word 44 announced" for 44 spoken," which the origi- 
nal fully admits. See Parkhurst. 

The rendering of this passage, in the authorized version, is most 
ably vindicated in Mr. Cunninghame's 44 Critical Examination" of 
some of Mr. Faber's Fundamental Principles of Prophetic Interpre- 
tation," and in Mr. Drummond's Letter to Dr. Hamilton. Mr. 
Mason does justice to our Translation, and says, (Gentiles' Fulness, 
p. 201,) 44 the word in the Greek is literally and most properly ren- 
dered " Restitution. But in quoting the passage, he stops short at 
the 4b restitution of all things," and applies this to 44 the time of the 
last judgment," and 44 the end of all things." But the mere quota- 
tion of the remainder of the sentence is "sufficient to exclude this 
idea, and to prove that the apostle referred to the Millennium — 
that being the only 44 Restitution of all things which God hath spo- 
ken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." 

m3 



142 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST^ RETURN* [Sect. XVIII. 



the apostle, "that your sins may be blotted out when the 
times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
Lord, and He shall send Jesus Christ which before was 
preached unto you." 

The apostle Paul writing to the saints in Rome, and 
treating expressly of the conversion of Israel, says, " I 
would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this 
mystery, (lest ye should be wise in your own conceits,) 
that blindness, in part, is happened to Israel until the ful- 
ness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall 
be saved ; as it is written, There shall come out of Zion 
the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 
for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away 
their sins." Rom. xi. 25 — 27. As in the gospel by Luke, 
our Lord, in predicting his return, declared that Jerusa- 
lem should first be " trodden down of the Gentiles, until 
the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" so the apostle here 
intimates that the blindness of Israel will continue till " the 
fulness of the Gentiles be come in," when " the Deliverer 
shall come out of Zion." * He quotes from the prophecy of 
Isaiah, " And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto 

* Mr. Mason supposes that because the apostle says, (using the 
language of the Greek translation by the Seventy,) the Deliverer 
shall come out of Zion, it cannot mean a literal advent : (Gentiles' 
Fulness, p. 187.) But heaven is, byway of figure, sometimes called 
Zion in Scripture, as in the following passage, referring to the same 
advent : 44 The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, 
until 1 make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the 
Rod of thy Strength out of Zion ; rule thou in the midst of thine 
enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in 
the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning." Ps. ex. 
1 — 3. But the passage would not accord with Mr. Mason's opinion, 
even if "gospel Zion*' were understood. For while he would thus 
make the Spirit come to the church, the apostle says the Deliverer 
shall come out of Zion. And as the prophet was no less inspired 
than the apostle, the view taken of the language as quoted by Paul, 
must be in consistency with Isaiah's prediction. VYere this the 
only passage in which Christ's return at the commencement of the 
Milennium was declared — and if it was either of difficult interpre- 
tation, or when so understood appeared in opposition to. other 
scriptures — some liberty might then be allowed in putting upon it 
such a construction as the necessities of the case might demand. 
But surely where there is such a harmony of Scriptural Evidence 
centering in the same point, such an explanation is not more un- 
necessary than it would be unsatisfactory. 



SECT. XIX.] PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN. 143 



them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." 
Is. lix. 20. Here the promise is that He will come to 
Zion, and unto them that do turn from transgression ; but 
Paul, quoting from the Greek Translation of the Old Tes- 
tament, (then in common use,) has made an accommodation 
of the passage. Both the prophet and the apostle, how- 
ever, explicitly announce the coming of the Redeemer at 
the period of Israel's conversion ; and while the one pre- 
dicts His coming to the earthly Zion, the other assures us 
of his return from the heavenly Zion, under the pledge of 
God's covenant with them. 

The long-desolate state of Israel, without a prince among 
them, is predicted by the prophet Ezekiel, while he also 
points to its termination : " And thou profane wicked prince 
of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an 
end ; Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and 
take off the crown ; this shall not be the same ; exalt him 
that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, 
overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until He 
come whose right it is ; and 1 will give it Him" Ezek. 
xxi. 25 — 27. " Then the moon shall be confounded, and 
the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in 
Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients 
gloriously." Is. xxiv. 23. 



SECTION XIX. 

NEW TESTAMENT PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN 
AT THE DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRIST. 

Before the Millennium, Antichrist, we are assured, will 
be destroyed ; and we have the express declaration of Paul 
that this is to be completely effected by the coming of 
Christ. In his first epistle to the Church at Thessalonica, 
the apostle had expressed joy in their having " turned from 
idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his 
Son from heaven." 1 Thess. i. 9. He had exhorted them 
to " walk worthy of God," who had called them ." unto 
His kingdom and glory." (ii. 12.) He had regarded them 
as his hope, and joy, and crown of rejoicing, "in the pre- 
sence of our Lord Jesus Christ, at his coming" (ii. 19.) 



144 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST' S RETURN [Sect. XIX. 



He had prayed that the Lord would establish their hearts 
s< unblameable in holiness, before God, even our Father, 
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his 
saints!' (iii. 13.) He had farther comforted them con- 
cerning the death of their believing friends, by the assur- 
ance that those who " sleep in Jesus will God bring with 
Him/' (iv. 14.) He had reminded them, that, to those who 
expect Him not, " the day of the Lord cometh as a thief 
in the night," although of " the times and seasons" he 
needed not to write unto them, for they were not in dark- 
ness that that day should overtake them as a thief; for 
which reason he exhorted them to 6< watch and be sober," 
(v. 1 — 6.) And, finally, he had prayed that they should 
" be preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord 
Jesus Christ r (v. 23.) 

By thus glancing at these several allusions in his first 
short epistle, we are better prepared to understand the 
apostle's design in the second. For, by the earnestness 
and the frequency with which he had thus urged the com- 
ing of Christ upon the attention of the Thessalonian church, 
and probably from the statements of others, they had been 
thrown into some degree of perturbation, supposing that 
glorious event just about to be realized.* Paul seems to 
have written his second epistle solely with a view to correct 
the mistake into which they had fallen. He first vindi- 
cates God for rewarding his servants and punishing his 
enemies " with everlasting destruction from the presence of 

* When Dr. Hamilton wishes to repel Mr. Cunninghame's argu- 
ment from Matt. xxiv. he affirms (p. 261,) that the coming of our 
Lord was at the destruction of Jerusalem : but when he would de- 
ride the premature expectations of the church at Thessalonica, he 
does not forget (p. 12,) that His coming wag to be preceded by the 
treading down of Jerusalem, until the times of the Gentiles be ful- 
filled; although he elsewhere maintains (p. 250.) that His coming 
was to be followed by that calamity. Truly it is not surprising that 
the laborious minuteness of a certain Millenarian writer, in occupy- 
ing a number of pages with arguments to determine the proper 
punctuation of a Scripture text, should appear ridiculous to an 
author, who thus, with so much ease — neither assigning a reason, 
nor offering an apology — can place the same event at two different 
periods distant from each other 1800 years, as he finds the neces- 
sities of his argument may require. The Doctor's mode, it will 
be acknowledged, is the easier and more summary of the two, but to 
those who sincerely desire to know the mind of the Spirit, (to which 
it is desirable that he had more frequently attended,) it will not 
always prove the most satisfactory. 



Sect. XIX.] AT THE DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRIST. 145 



the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when he comes 
to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired of all them 
that believe!' He then proceeds in the beginning of the 
second chapter to address them, with earnestness and 
affection, on the time of the Saviour's advent : " Now, we 
beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and our gathering together unto Him, that ye be 
not soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit, nor 
by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of 
Christ is at hand," or, instantly, as m?npt& ought to be 
rendered. With this view of the apostle's design we can 
never suppose that he now refers to any other than that 
"coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" 
to which he alluded in his former epistle. Whatever 
anxiety some may evince to escape from the force of the 
passage by supposing a "spiritual advent," the real nature 
of this coming is already too evident to admit of its being 
so explained away. But palpable as the apostle's mean- 
ing now is, the argument to be derived from his after 
statement acquires additional strength, by the consideration 
that wig, here translated " by" the coming of our Lord, 
ought to be rendered "of" or "concerning" His coming. 
Parkhurst, thus correcting the translation of this passage, 
refers to Whitby and Macknight, among others, as author- 
ity — 'commentators who will not readily be suspected of 
Millenarian tendencies. This correction gives an entirely 
different view of the verse, as, without the slightest refer- 
ence to the context, it clearly demonstrates that the subject 
of which the apostle expressly wrote was " concerning 
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering 
together unto him," which admits of no spiritual interpre- 
tation. Independently, indeed, of this correction, the mean- 
ing may be easily ascertained and established. It is evi- 
dent it could not be the day of their death which the 
apostle contemplated, else he could have given them no 
assurance that any previous time should certainly elapse, 
still less that it would not take place till the destruction 
of Antichrist. It could not be merely the more general dif- 
fusion of the influences of the Spirit in the church or in 
the world, for this would have occasioned them no " trou- 
ble." And it was no other than the personal coming of 
the Lord, respecting the time of which the believing Thes- 
salonians had fallen into mistake, and concerning which 



146 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST ? S RETURN [Sect. XIX. 



the Apostle designed to correct them. What we now 
have to attend to is, the period assigned by the apostle for 
this glorious advent of the Redeemer. Guarding them 
against deceivers, he assures them that that day should 
not come except there come a falling away first, and that 
Man of sin be revealed — the Son of Perdition. He pro- 
ceeds to state the character of Antichrist, (as recognized by 
Protestant commentators,) and having adverted to the bar- 
rier which the dominant power of Rome Pagan opposed 
to his manifestation, till taken out of the way, he adds, 
(ver. 8,) " And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom 
the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his moutb, and 

DESTROY WITH THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS COMING."* This 

coming must therefore be before the Millennium ; and if it 
be of a personal nature, in the second verse, it must be 
the same in the eighth. The same word is used in both 
cases ; and to imagine that the apostle, while professedly 
correcting a mistake into which his readers had fallen, 
about the personal coming of the Lord, should, instead, 
inform them of the period of a spiritual advent, without 

* Dr. Wardlaw (p. 519, et seq.) not only admits the accuracy of 
the above substitution of " concerning the coming of our Lord," in- 
stead of "by the coming," as given in our translation, (making the 
correction in quoting the passage,) but states it to have been the 
apostle's object here to correct the misapprehension which had arisen 
from the expressions in his first epistle concerning the personal 
coming of the Lord. Considering the misapprehension to have 
arisen from the apostle's 44 use of the pronounce in his first epistle, 
Are we not necessitated," he asks, 44 to consider the correction of it 
as amounting to an intimation that the day of the Lord was not to 
be expected within so short a time " as a life-time ? Again he says, 
(p. 522,) that the apostle gave them 44 the plainest intimation that 
the day in question, [the day of the Lord,] was not to come till 
events had happened which did not admit of its being 4 at hand ' in 
the sense in which they had by mistake supposed it ; that is within 
their own life-time." But those 44 events" to which the Doctor al- 
ludes, are the rise, and manifestation, and destruction of the Man of 
sin, events which will all have happened before the Millennium ; and 
we do think it remarkable, that while the Doctor takes so correct 
a view of the connection in which the mistake of the Thessalonians, 
64 concerning the coming of the Lord" and the correction of that 
mistake by the apostle, that he should have quoted the entire pas- 
sage without taking the slightest notice of the time at which the 
apostle does say the coming of Christ will take place ; and that while 
Paul does inform them that before the coming of Christ, the Man of 
sin had to come into being and acquire an ascendancy, that he also 
affirms that 44 by the brightness of His coming " this Wicked shall 
be destroyed. 



Sect. XIX.] AT THE DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRIST. 147 



giving them any intimation of the substitution, is to suppose 
him guilty of a sophism which would not be practised by 
any honest man. Besides, it deserves to be remarked, 
that the word here translated " brightness" Parkhurst 
observes, the Greek writers particularly apply to the ap- 
pearance of some deity. In Scripture it is never used 
but to denote a personal manifestation, as in the following 
passages relative to Christ's glorious appearance at His re- 
turn : " I charge thee, therefore, before God, and the 
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the 
dead at his appearing and his kingdom ;*' 2 Tim. iv. J. 
" That thou keep this commandment without spot, unre- 
bukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ ;" 
1 Tim. vi. 14. " Looking for that blessed hope, and the 
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus 
Christ ;"* Titus ii. 13. " Henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
Judge, shall give me at that day ; and not to me only, but 
unto all them also that love His appearing." 2 Tim. iv. 8. 
In these instances, the word translated " appearing," and 
" appearance" is the very word translated " brightness" 
in the passage before us. How then is it possible to evade 
the conclusion that Christ's return will take place at the 

* Any general remarks on Dr. Hamilton's mode of treating the 
three Greek nouns used in the New Testament to signify the advent 
of Christ, are unnecessary, as Mr. Cunninghame — whose thorough 
acquaintance with the Originals, eminently fits him for the work — 
has in his several pamphlets so fully taken up this part of the argu- 
ment. We merely observe on the above passage, that the Doctor's 
method of getting through the overwhelming evidence it contains 
of the Saviour's personal return at the destruction of Antichrist is 
abundantly easy. Assuming that he formerly came at the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem — next declaring that he did not then come in 
person — and lastly asserting, that " His advent is represented in 
the same terms on the two latter occasions," he speedily arrives at 
the conclusion, (p. 238,) that " the presumption certainly is, that 
he will not come in person, either at the overthrow of Antichrist, 
or the introduction of the Millennium" — between which events he 
marvellously interposes 75 years, (p. 236,) and seems to imagine 
he has thus fully confuted Mr. Cunninghame's argument ! ! 

This is the passage to which we formerly referred as 44 the sole 
apparent evidence" which 44 after long thought" Mr. Faber discov- 
ered. It may therefore be interesting to notice the means by which 
he succeeds in evading it. This he does simply by supposing that 
from a forged letter the Thessalonian church had been deceived 
into an expectation of the immediate figurative advent of Christ 
to destroy the Man of sin ! ! 



148 PREDICTIONS OF CHRISTS RETURN [Sect. XIX, 



destruction of x\ntichrist ? — "And then shall that Wicked be 
revealed, whom the Lord shall co?tsu?ne with the Spirit of 
His mouth, [as has been witnessed since the Reformation,] 
and shall destroy with the brightness [or glorious ap- 
pearance] " of His coming/' 

The same view of the coming of the Son of Man at the 
destruction of Antichrist is given by the prophet Daniel. 
The seventh chapter of his prophecies contains the account 
of a dream, or vision, in which the prophet saw four beasts, 
which, Commentators are agreed, represent the great mon- 
archies which have successively had dominion from that 
time till now — the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the 
Grecian, and the Roman. This last appeared to the pro- 
phet dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, with 
great iron teeth, and as breaking in pieces, and stamping 
the residue with the feet of it, " and it had ten horns/' 
While the prophet considered these horns — the kingdoms 
into which the Roman empire became divided — behold 
there came up among them, another little horn having 
eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great 
things, which "made war with the saints, and prevailed 
against them." This little horn, it is also agreed, is the 
Papal Antichrist. Contemplating this horn, the prophet 
"beheld till .the thrones were cast down, [set or placed,] 
and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was 
white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure 
wool ; His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels 
as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth 
from before Him ; thousand thousands ministered unto 
Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before 
Him : the judgment was set and the books were opened. 
I beheld then, because of the voice of the great w T ords 
which the horn spake ; / beheld even till the beast was 
slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning 
flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their 
dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a 
season and time. I saw in the night visions ; and, be- 
hold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of 
heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought 
Him near before Him. x\nd there was given Him domi- 
nion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, 
and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an 
everlasting dominion, w T hich shall not pass away, and His 



SECT. XIX.] AT THE DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRIST. 149 

kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."* Dan. vii. 
9 — 14. How fully does this confirm the view given by 
Paul to the Thessalonians ? 

Under the representation of seven angels pouring out the 
vials of God's wrath upon the earth, the book of the Reve- 
lation contains a prediction of the judgments which precede 

* Dr. Hamilton, to supply the place of argument, gives an ex- 
tract, (p. 234,) in which the Edinburgh Theological Magazine, 
attempting to vindicate an absurd commentary which Mr. Cunning- 
hame .has exposed, concludes some equally pointless remarks on 
this passage, in the following words ; " The Son of Man came to the 
Ancient of Days, or was brought near before Him. The only ques- 
tion then is, where has the Ancient of Days His abode? Where do 
the Scriptures uniformly represent Him as erecting His throne ? If 
it be on earth, then the coming of the Son of Man was a descent 
according to Mr. Cunninghame; if it be in heaven, then the coming 
of the Son of Man was an ascent according to the interpreters, 
Maclaurin and Scott." The author of the above is certainly en- 
titled to the merit of originality ; and should this new species of 
argumentation ever become admissible, what are at present regarded 
as indubitable facts will be easily overthrown. If, for example, any 
gentleman, ignorant of the power and nature of Religious Criticism, 
should venture to mention his having been, in 1822, at the levee of 
his present Majesty, held in the palace of Holyrood, he might soon 
have occasion to blush for his temerity, and have his want of pro?- 
jbity thus exposed by some acute reviewer: " Where does George 
the Fourth reside? Where is he uniformly represented as holding 
his Court? If in Edinburgh, then may you have been present at his 
levee in Holyrood; but, if in London, then, Sir, you endeavour to 
deceive." In the prophecy the point to be ascertained is not where 
the throne of the Ancient of Days is usually placed, but where He 
is represented as having set these thrones of judgment at the parti- 
cular time specified. These cannot be confounded with the eternal 
throne cf God. They are only placed while the transactions of the 
vision are being accomplished. The prophet beheld "till" they 
„were set ; and, instead of being in heaven, they are represented in 
the context as being placed upon the kingdoms described under the 
emblems of the four destructive beasts. Contemplating the Papal 
Antichrist which had risen among the other horns of the Roman 
empire, and considering this horn, whose look was more stout than 
his fellows, the prophet " beheld till the thrones were placed, and 
the Ancient of Days did sit" in judgment upon him. It was while 
these thrones were set, and judgment was being executed, that One 
like the Son of Man came from heaven, which must receive Him 
" until the times of Restitution of all things, which God hath spoken 
by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." 
These 66 times" having now arrived, He Qomes " with the clouds of 
heaven," and there is 44 given Him dominion, and glory, and a king- 
dom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him." 

N 



150 



PREDICTIONS OF CHRISTS RETURN [Sect. XIX. 



the Millennium ; by the last of which vials, Antichrist is to 
be finally destroyed. But after the account of the sixth, 
and before the out-pouring of the seventh vial, there is a re- 
markable parenthetical intimation given : " And the sixth 
angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, 
[in judgments upon the Turkish empire, symbolized by that 
river,] and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of 
the kings of [from] the east might be prepared, [probably 
the Israelites, called "princes," Ps. xlvii. 8, 9.] And I saw 
three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of 
the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of 
the mouth of the false prophet, for they are the spirits of 
devils working miracles, [signs or wonders,] which go forth 
unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to 
gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 
{Behold I come as a thief; blessed is he that watcheth 
and keepeth his- garments, lest he walk naked and they 
see his shame.) And he gathered them together into a 
place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon." Then 
follow the judgments of: he last vial : " And the seventh 
angel poured out his vial," &c. Rev. xvi. 12 — 17. There 
is no such intimation as is here made of the coming of the 
Lord given between the out-pouring of any of the preceding 
vials, nor in any other of the prophetic parts of the book 
of the Revelation. And the figure used — as a thief— is 
that in which Christ himself foretold his personal advent : 
" Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, 
and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, 
when He will return from the wedding. . . .And this know, 
that if the good man of the house had known what hour 
the thief would come, he would have watched, and not 
have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye there- 
fore ready also, for the Son of Man comet h at an hour 
when ye think not!' Luke xii. .35 — 40. The apostle Peter 
also assures us, "the day of the Lord will come as a thief 
in the night!' 2 Pet. hi. 10. This distinctive character 
of Christ's personal return might alone suggest that it is 
to the same advent the intimation between the sixth and 
seventh vials refers, " Behold, I come as a thief." But 
when we reflect that Paul expressly asserts that the destruc- 
tion of Antichrist is to be effected by the brightness of 
Christ's coming — that Daniel's vision presents the view of 
his coming with the clouds of heaven at the same time, — 



Sect. XIX.] AT THE DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRIST. 151 



and that this parenthetical intimation is made just before 
the account of the final destruction of that apostasy, there 
surely remains no reason to question the fact. Advancing 
to the more enlarged account of the utter destruction of that 
power, and of the apostate nations leagued with it, we find 
the Saviour represented as present in . the dread conflict. 
The first nine verses of the 19th chapter of the Revelation 
contain an account of the rejoicing of the saints in heaven, 
and their aspirations of praise to God, for the infliction of 
His judgments upon her who had corrupted the earth, and 
because the marriage of the Lamb is come. And, in the 
following part of this chapter, and beginning of the 20th, 
is declared the signal destruction of the enemies of Christ. 
Jn the 11th verse of the 19th chapter, the apostle " saw 
heaven opened, and, behold, a white horse, and He that 
sat upon him was called Faithful and True., and in right- 
eousness He doth judge and make war." There can be 
no doubt that this Glorious Personage is the blessed Sa- 
viour, who is afterwards called the Word 6f God ; and He 
hath on his vesture and on His thigh a name written, King 
of kings and Lord of lords, " and on His head were many 
crowns." He meditates the destruction of His enemies; 
for the armies of heaven, wearing the raiment of saints, 
followed Him, " and out of His mouth goeth a sharp 
sword that with it he should smite the nations ; and He 
shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the 
wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." 
To intimate the extent of the carnage, the apostle " saw 
an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud 
voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of hea- 
ven, Come and gather yourselves unto the supper of the 
Great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the 
flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the 
flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh 
of all men, both free and bond, both small and great." 
Without entering upon any particular examination of the 
imagery employed, we may merely observe, that the sharp 
sword going out of the Saviour's mouth is probably de- 
signed to intimate, that this work of tremendous destruc- 
tion will be effected in obedience to His immediate com- 
mand. This is introduced in the blessing of Moses* 
already referred to in connection with the restoration of 

n 2 



152 PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST'S RETURN [Sect. XIX. 

Israel : " There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, 
who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his ex- 
cellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and 
Underneath are the everlasting arms. And he shall thrust 
out the enemy before thee, and shall say, Destroy them," 
Deut. xxxiii. 26, 27. The explanation, sometimes given, 
of the sword going out of the Saviour's mouth being de- 
signed to intimate His bringing the world into subjection 
to Himself, by the preaching of the Word, attended by 
the blessed influences of His Spirit, is quite inconsistent 
with the whole representation. The angels are commis- 
sioned to " pour out the wrath of God upon the earth." 
Rev. xvi. 1. ; and experience proves that the contents of 
the first six of their vials — all of which are light compared 
with the seventh — -have not been of a converting but of a 
destructive nature. The gospel is indeed at this time to 
be preached extensively to the nations, calling them to 
fear God and give glory to Him, on account of these 
tremendous judgments upon the enemies of religion and of 
mankind : "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of 
heaven," says the apostle, immediately before the destruc- 
tion of mystic Babylon, " having the everlasting gospel to 
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every 
kindred, and nation, and tongue, and people, saying, with 
a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the 
hour of his judgments is come, and worship Him that 
made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of 
waters."* Rev. xiv. 6, 7. Had it been in gracious and be- 
nignant influences that Christ was coming to these " kings 
of the earth, and their armies" there could have been no 
meaning in the fowls of heaven being summoned to the 
banquet : — " And all the fowls were filled with their flesh." 
This is evidently no other than that destruction of Antichrist 
which Paul informed the Thessalonians would be effected 
by the brightness of Christ's coming. 

In a preceding chapter of the book of the Revelation, 
we have another statement of this final overthrow : " And 
the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have 
received no kingdom as yet, [the Roman empire not hav* 

* How often is the first part of this text quoted, while the latter 
part, which is the substance of the angelic message, is studiously 
kept out of view ! There is something manifestly wrong, when we 
are so unwilling to declare, nay, so unwilling to believe, the denun- 
ciations of divine indignation upon the church's enemies. 



SECT. XIX.] AT THE DESTRUCTION. OF ANTICHRIST. 153 



ing been divided at the time the apostle had this celestial 
vision,] but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 
These have one mind, and shall give their power and 
strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the 
Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is 
Lord of lords, and King of kings ; and they that are 
with Him are called, and chosen, and faitltful" for 
" The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with His 
mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them 
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." Rev. xvii. 12—14. 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. 
" And Enoch, also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of 
these, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand 
of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to con- 
vince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly 
deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all 
their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken 
against him. " Jude, ver. 14, 15. On this account " shall 
all the tribes of the earth mourn," when " they shall see 
the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power 
and great glory." Matt. xxiv. 30. The result of this con- 
flict with the kings of the earth and their armies follows : 
" And the beast was taken, and with him the false pro- 
phet that wrought miracles [wonders] before him. . . .these 
both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brim- 
stone, and the remnant were slain with the sword of Hiin 
that sat upon the horse, which sword proceedeth out of 
His mouth." Satan himself, who has so long roamed the 
world, seducing men from their allegiance to heaven's high 
Majesty, shall be bound and shut up that he may not de- 
ceive the nations : " And I saw an angel come down from 
heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great 
chain in his hand ; and he laid hold on the Dragon, that 
old serpent which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him 
a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, 
and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should 
deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should 
be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season." 
Rev. xx. 1—3. 

Thus are we brought to that " consummation " to which 
the expounding angel directed Daniel's faith, when " that 
determined " should be poured upon the desolator — to 

n3 



154 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND 



[Sect. XX. 



"the Times of the Restitution of all things/' until which 
Peter declared the heavens must receive our Lord — to the 
blessed epoch announced by Paul, when the Saviour shall 
utterly destroy Antichrist "with the brightness of His 
Coming," — to the period predicted by our Lord Himself 
when " the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled," — and 
when " the end of the age " shall arrive, for which His dis- 
ciples longed, and which was afterwards announced, with 
awful solemnity, by an angel, in the hearing of him who 
was peculiarly beloved : " And the angel which I saw 
stand upon the sea, and upon the earth, lifted up his hand 
to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, 
who created heaven and the things that therein are, and 
the sea and the things which are therein, that there should 
be time no longer ; but in the days of the voice of the 
seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery 
of God should be finished, as He hath declared to his 
servants the prophets." Rev. x. 5 — 7. 



SECTION XX. 

FIRST RESURRECTION AND REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 

Having in our investigations arrived at the end of this age, 
we proceed farther to inquire, what the Spirit of God has 
been pleased to reveal concerning " that which is to come." 
One distinguishing feature of that age, is declared by the 
apostle Paul, when he reminds the saints at Ephesus, that 
God " hath made known unto us the mystery of His 
will, according to His good pleasure, which He hath pur- 
posed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness 
of times, He might gather together in one, all things in 
Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, 
even in Hi?n.*' Ephes. i. 9, 10. " And I saw thrones," 
continues the apostle John, after the account of the de- 
struction of the Antichristian nations, and the binding of 
Satan, " And 1 saw thrones, and they [or persons] sat up- 
on them, and judgment was given unto them ; and I saw 
the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of 
Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not wor- 
shipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received 
liis mark upon their foreheads or in their hands ; and they 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



155 



lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (But the 
rest of the dead * lived not again until the thousand years 

* From the word here translated "rest " being, in the Original, 
the same with that translated "remnant," Rev. xix. 21 ; Dr. 
Hamilton, (p. 213,) maintains the parties spoken of to be one and 
the same. To charge a Doctor of Divinity with unworthy quib- 
bling would be unseemly ; but really when attempts are made to set 
aside and decry a Scriptural doctrine, and to support an opposite 
opinion by such an artifice, suspicions will involuntarily arise. 
What would be thought of the wisdom or candour of him who 
should gravely maintain that Infidels and Christians must be pre- 
cisely the same class of men, because he had found in some highly 
approved theological work, a 44 remnant" of the one mentioned in 
juxta-position with 44 the rest" of the other — the remnant and the 
rest meaning the same thing ? Or, how many would be persuaded 
that 44 oil" and 44 blood" are exactly the same, although he should 
adduce the fact, that in the Scripture account of the legal ceremonial 
services, ^ the rest" of a portion of both are mentioned, within a 
dozen chapters of each other. Yet such is the nature of the evi- 
dence by which Dr. Hamilton would establish that the slain, (Rev. 
xix. 21.) are those described, (xx. £.) as the rest of the dead who 
live not again till the thousand years be finished; and we much 
regret to add that Dr. Wardlaw has here followed the same course. 
Independently of the fact that it is a literal slaying of the formep 
that is spoken of — for 44 all the fowls were filled with their flesh'' — 
the sophism may be rendered still more apparent, by bringing to- 
gether other instances from the New Testament, in which the Greek 
term that is here translated 44 rest"' and 44 remnant" occurs. For by 
following the same line of argument the Doctors might establish, 
beyond the power of controversy, not merely the identity of 44 the 
remnant" slain, with 44 the rest" of the dead who lived not again ; 
but they might also prove that both are the very party described, Rev. 
ix. 20, as 44 the rest of the men which were not killed by these 
plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands ; " and that 
still we have in Rev. xi. 13, these men, the very "remnant who 
were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven."— 44 ol kotvat, 
the identical remnant who were slain," exclaims Dr. Hamilton^ 
with an air of triumph. We wonder it did not occur while he thus 
deceived himself, or endeavoured to practise upon the credulity of his 
readers, that the remainder of one thing could not be the 44 iden- 
tical remnant" of another, and that th'e character of these 'remnants 
differ just in proportion to the dissimilarity of the objects to which 
they apply, this being ascertained only from the connection in which 
they are found. 44 The rest" or "remnant" in English, with its equiv- 
alent in Greek, merely denotes what is not included, whether this 
be, as in Mat. xxii. 6, 44 the remnant" of unworthy men who re- 
jected the invitation to the wedding of the king's son — or, as in 
Mat. xxv. 11, 44 the other" virgins who were denied access to the 
Bridegroom's presence — or the lusts of 44 other" things which ren- 
der the word unfruitful, as in Mark iv. 19 — or, as in Luke xii. 26, 
44 the rest" of the things about which Christ enjoined His disciples 
to take no thought. 



156 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND 



[Sect . XX. 



were finished.) This is the First resurrection. Blessed 
and holy is he that hath part in the First Resurrection ; 
on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be 
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a 
thousand years!' Rev. xx. 4 — 6. Thus, then, are we 
brought to the consideration of the much-disputed doctrine 
of the pre-millennial resurrection of the saints, and their af- 
ter reign with Christ during the Millennium* 

Much of the supposed difficulty with respect to the na- 
ture of this Resurrection and Reign probably arises from a 
too frequent neglect of the light which it receives from 
other parts of Scripture, and the entire oversight even of 

* We hope to be forgiven by the Examinator in the Instructor, 
for having preferred the method adopted, although it has brought 
us thus late to the examination of the passage he has kindly pre- 
scribed (p. 482) as that on which 44 all discussion should begin, and 
all demonstrations should finally seek their foundation." We beg 
to assure him, that it was from no contempt of his prescriptive 
authority that a different course has been pursued, but simply from 
a belief that it might be proper first to establish the period of 
Christ's Return, and from a conviction that the doctrine of our 
Lord's Millennial advent and reign, is supported by such an abun- 
dance of Scriptural Evidence as that it would have stood^perfectly 
secure, even although we were interdicted all reference to the pas- 
sage in question. The only point here declared, which is not else- 
where revealed, is the duration of this reign ; and Commentators, 
holding opposite sentiments on the subject of the personal presence 
of Christ, are, after all, at variance with respect to the meaning of 
the " thousand years." So that the only additional circumstance 
here ascertained is, that this reign is for a limited time — the exact 
duration of which will not perhaps in this state be known till the 
event declare. Some suppose, that the thousand years are given as 
a round number, merely indicating a long but indefinite time ; others 
believe, they are to be understood as literal years, and therefore 
that they predict the precise peripd of the Millennium ; and a third 
class maintain, that being prophetic years, having a year for a day, 
they intimate a period of 365,000 civil years. Although fully aware 
that there are arguments not destitute of weight in favour of the 
interpretation of literal years, to us the opinion scarcely appears 
consistent with other Scriptures. When we consider the frequency 
with which the prophets speak of the continuance of Christ's Mil- 
lennial reign on earth, as 44 for ever," and, In some cases, as 44 for 
ever and ever," we are constrained to think such expressions too 
strong to be used in reference to a period of a thousand literal 
years. This objection appears still more forcible, when it is re- 
membered, that, in some instances, the 44 for ever" is put in con- 
trast with the time of Israel's dispersion, as if that were compara- 
tively but a little while. 



Sect. XX,] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



157 



the preceding context, predicting the coming of Christ and 
the destruction of his enemies, to which we have adverted. 
The numerous prophetic annunciations of Messiah's future 
abode on earth — the evidence already adduced of this being 
the period of His Personal Return — and the declarations, 
yet to be noticed, of the resurrection of the dead saints 
and change of those alive at his coming — these not only 
constrain us to believe, but to wonder it should ever have 
been denied, that this resurrection is literal and the reign 
personal, and that those who live and reign with Christ, 
are His arisen and glorified saints, redeemed out of every 
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; part of whose 
heavenly song, in prospect of this honour, being, "We 
shall reign upon the earth!' Rev. v. 9, 10. Indeed, hav- 
ing already so fully proved the Return of Christ before the 
Millennium, farther examination of this passage to ascertain 
its meaning may be deemed superfluous. Still, however^ 
it may add confirmation to the faith of some who already 
believe, enable the doubtful to decide, and convince others 
who have hitherto been prejudiced against this glorious 
truth, to attend for a little to some of the reasons adduced 
for understanding it spiritually, and to examine what far- 
ther light may be derived from other scriptures concerning 
the First Resurrection ; for, happily, on this important and 
interesting doctrine, we have "line upon line, precept on 
precept." 

It is sometimes said, by those who deny a personal reign, 
that the book of the Revelation being figurative, it is im- 
proper to suppose that this is to be literally understood. 
But the adoption of such a principle of interpretation is not 
more subversive of a literal than of a spiritual resurrection 
and reign. For, if the figurative nature of the book, or to 
speak more correctly its symbolical nature, form an objec- 
tion to our understanding them in one sense, it may be 
made equally to exclude them in any other. Nor is this 
the whole of the evil such a mode of interpretation would 
occasion. We should, besides, be led not only to reject 
the literal resurrection of the rest of the dead, " small and 
great/' after the Millennium, but also to deny the literal 
destruction of Antichrist — the binding of Satan — his future 
release, and the re-extension of his power— his ultimate 
punishment, — and the final judgment. Not only are all 



158 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND 



[Sect. XX. 



these contained in this symbolical book, but symbols are 
used in the account of them ; as in the description of the 
beast, and the marking of his followers — the angel's key — 
the chaining of Satan and setting a seal upon him — and 
the opening of books for the purpose of judgment. But 
the use of these symbols does not in the least affect the 
reality of the events to which they refer ; and still less, 
therefore, will the symbolical character of the book change 
the nature of real events, in the account of which svmbols 
are not used.* 

But again, it has been objected, that it is not the saints 
themselves, but their souls that are here said to live. This 

* On this vision seen by John, Dr. Wardlaw remarks, as formerly 
noticed: — 44 Did the words occur in an historical or epistolary com- 
position, it would justly be pronounced unnatural, (unless we were 
specially warned of the writer's purposed deviation from his ordinary 
style,) to explain them symbolically. Now in a professedly symboli- 
cal book, there is the very same force of objection against their being 
interpreted literally. The interpretation is not in harmony with 
the avowed and universally admitted style of the writer, and the 
principle on which his entire work is constructed." He therefore 
asks, " Why are we, in the text, (Rev. xx. 4.) to understand literal 
thrones of earthly dominion, and a literal corporeal resurrection of 
men to sit upon those thrones, when all around is symbolical and 
figurative ?" (p. 498.) We have already proved the premillennial 
Return of Christ from both " historical " and 44 epistolary" compo- 
sitions, and might, therefore, without reference to this 44 symbolical 
book," require the Doctor's assent to its truth. But we have farther 
to remark on his principle of interpretation, that the book of Reve- 
lation is not so completely symbolical as to demand that all its 
statements be so interpreted. In addition to the instances cited 
above, we may yet add other statements contained in this symbolical 
book which the Doctor himself does not scruple to quote as to have 
a literal accomplishment. Besides the fact of his understanding and 
interpreting literally (p. 510) the account of the general resurrection 
in this very chapter, does he not 44 understand literal thrones of 
earthly dominion," when he quotes, Rev. xi. 15. as proof that at the 
period of the Millennium, 44 the kingdoms of this world shall become 
the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ ?" (p. 477.) 44 The 
kingdoms of this world " do not in the least lose their significancy 
nor change their meaningbecause contained in this symbolical book; 
neither does Dr. Wardlaw think they necessarily should. But if this is 
notto be understood symbolically, the supposed 44 force of objection" 
against the literal interpretation of all other passages is destroyed. 
And if we may believe, on the statement of this "symbolical book," 
that the kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our 
Lord and of his Christ; we may also be allowed to believe, in the 
same sense, the apostle's additional statement, 44 and he shall reign 
for ever and ever," (xi. 15.) 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



159 



objection has more speciousness than force. For it is to 
be observed that a change of condition is here evidently 
implied— a change from death unto life. The souls, how- 
ever, had not died, and therefore it could not be said of 
them that they "lived" again. This is further evident 
from the contrast between those who " lived and reigned 
with Christ/' and the rest of the dead, who "lived not 
again till the thousand years were finished." As in the 
case of the latter their living not " again," till the close of 
this period, implies that they had lived at some former 
period, but were now dead, and as this cannot be under- 
stood of their souls, so when it is said of those who are made 
partakers of the First Resurrection that they " lived," these 
must have been brought, by the resurrection of their bodies, 
from that state of death in which the rest of the dead still 
continue. Indeed, had not unusual pains been taken to 
put a strained interpretation on this passage, any process 
of reasoning for the removal of such an objection must have 
been altogether unnecessary. The word "soul/' ($v%ii) 
is in scripture, as well as in common language, frequently 
used to denote the person ; and when thus used by the 
inspired. penmen, we no more experience difficulty in de- 
termining it*s meaning, than we apprehend danger of being 
misunderstood when we speak of the number of souls a 
city contains. Although we had no other information as 
to what is meant when the apostle Peter speaks of the 
"few, that is eight souls," who were saved in the ark, 
(1 Pet. iii. 20,) who would exclude the bodies of Noah 
and his family from the salvation referred to ? When we 
are informed of the large accession of members made to 
the church on the day of Pentecost, it is in these words : 
"and the same day there were added unto them about 
three thousand souls." Acts ii. 41. And Paul says of 
those in the ship with him when cast upon Melita, "And 
we were in all in the ship, two hundred threescore and 
sixteen souls. v Acts xxvii. 37. In these, and similar in- 
stances, the very word used by John is introduced, when 
the person, rather than the separate spirit is spoken of. It 
was when the Lord had breathed the breath of life into its 
clay tenement, that "man became a living soul." Gen. ii. 
7. Indeed "soul" is used in Scripture not only for the 
person but sometimes for the body merely ; as in Ps, xlix. 



160 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND 



[Sect. XX. 



15. " But God will redeem my soul from the power of 
the grave"* We are therefore fully warranted in believ- 
ing the apostle's vision to have been of the literal resurrec- 
tion of those who had suffered for the cause of Christ, and 
of those who submitted not to Antichristian authority— 
" which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, 
neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or 
in their hands." 

But it is farther objected, that the Apostle's descrip- 
tion of these saints who live and reign with Christ, includes 
only those who have obtained the Martyr's crown, and 
those who have resisted the abominations of the Man of 
sin. Some have even endeavoured to restrict the apostle's 
language to the souls or persons of the Martyrs only. This 
is however an unwarrantable restriction ; for although the 
language of our English Translation may suggest the idea 
that those "which had not worshipped the beast," are the 
same class who "were beheaded for the witness of Jesus/' 
it is otherwise in the Original. On the authority even of 
Whitby, (who has furnished his successors with nearly all 
the arguments we have yet seen adduced against the pre- 
millennial advent and personal reign of Christ, ) the passage . 
ought to be read, ■ ' And I saw the souls of them that were 
beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, 
and of them which had not worshipped the beast/' &c. 
thus clearly marking, what many are ready to deny, — the 
distinct specification of two classes, first the martyrs, and 
secondly the whole number of testimony -bearers against 

* The Examinator in the Instructor, grants (p. 485) that "the 
word souls (^u^ui) is frequently used in the Sacred Writings for 
persons." But Dr. Hamilton, who has often loaded Millenar* 
ians with a profusion of abuse, substituting sounding epithets for 
solid arguments, in this instance carries his censure much higher, 
and would seem to question the wisdom of Him who dictated the 
passages cited above. "The Greek," says he, (p. 204,) " is not 
such a scanty language as to be unable to furnish a separate term for 
each of the ideas conveyed by the words person, soul, and body." 
We have no design of attributing snch a sentence to wilful captious* 
ness with the language of Inspiration, but would more charitably 
ascribe it to that over-hasty zeal against the supposed alarming 
heresy, which deprived him of the power of cool reflection and due 
investigation, adding it to the multitude of instances which equally 
prove how untenable is the theory the Doctor maintains, and his 
anxiety for its support. 



Sect. XX.] REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 161 

the corruptions of the Romish church. Still, however, it 
is to be observed that these two classes refer only to the 
times of Antichristian idolatry. But this omission of all the 
prophets and saints of previous ages, appears to have been 
designed, in order to preserve the unity of the vision. The 
preceding part being occupied with a prediction concerning 
Antichrist, and of the sins and the sufferings he should oc- 
casion in the church, the apostle's attention at his overthrow 
was principally confined to the fate of those who were en- 
gaged in the transactions to which the vision more imme- 
diately relates. In the interval between the period of 
Antichrist's rise, and that of his destruction at the coming 
of the Lord, the fidelity of the church has been, and will be, 
continually put to the test, either by the wiles or the cruelty 
of that insidious and destructive foe. To the faithful who 
had steadfastly maintained the truth as it is in Jesus amid 
the terrors of death, or when surrounded by more danger- 
ous temptations to compliance with his devilish devices, the 
limitation in the passage seems peculiarly appropriate. All 
who had not been seduced from their allegiance to the 
Saviour, during the existence of that apostasy, and within 
the reach of its influence, are included, either among those 
who " were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the 
word of God/' or among those who, though they may not 
have been called to lay down their lives for the truth, " had 
not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had 
received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands." 
When this is considered, it gives peculiar significancy to 
the limitation on which the objection is founded; the 
apostle taking especial notice of the privilege of those whose 
circumstances had formed the subject of the preceding 
visions. It is, however, worthy of notice, that although 
he names no other as sharing the glorious privileges of 
which they are made partakers,, yet the manner in which 
this part of the vision is introduced, leaves it to be inferred 
that others are so. For, says the apostle, " I saw thrones, 
and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto 
them; and [being divinely directed in making the most in- 
teresting selection,] I saw [among those on the thrones] the 
souls [or persons] of them that were beheaded for the witness of 
Jesus/' &c. Those whom he saw upon the thrones, and to 
whom judgment was given, do not appear to be merely the 

O 



162 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND 



[Sect. XX. 



two classes to whom he immediately after refers. But for a 
knowledge of who these others may be, and of God's de- 
signs with respect to His people in former ages, we must 
have recourse to other parts of his word, which, as we shall 
see, contains ample evidence of their enjoyment of the same 
glorious privilege. 

Let us, however, for a moment suppose, that this pas- 
sage is not to be understood as speaking of a literal resur- 
rection of these saints, but of a resurrection of the 'prin- 
ciples they held, and see how this will accord with the 
language employed. A resurrection, it will be admitted, 
presupposes the death of the object to be raised, and 
therefore before there can be a resurrection of Christian 
principles they must first have died from the earth. And 
how does this supposition coincide with the idea generally 
entertained, that the present laudable exertions for the 
diffusion of the gospel shall progressively increase, until it 
be ultimately successful in the conversion of the whole 
world, and the glorious day of promise be realized in the 
universal reception of its gracious truths ? Christianity has 
already taken root in far distant lands, and although its 
power has not been so extensively manifested as every 
friend of Jesus must have wished and prayed for, still, we 
believe, that, at our Lord's return, He shall have trophies 
of redeeming love from every clime. But on the princi- 
ples of those who suppose that the Millennium shall be 
simply the result of Christianity's extending influence, 
when is it to die, that it may be made to live again in the 
First Resurrection ? Let it not be said that this Resurrec- 
tion is of the principles of the martyrs, and therefore means 
a greater degree of purity. The principles of the martyrs 
were just those of the truth as it is in Jesus; the same 
Scriptures which they enjoyed being now in our hands, 
and professedly received as the standard of our faith ; al- 
though it must be acknowledged, that, in early times, they 
entertained different opinions of some of its truths, as the 
present necessity of vindicating their sentiments with re- 
spect to the time and purpose of the Saviour's return suffi- 
ciently testifies. But the resurrection witnessed by John 
was not only of those who had sealed their testimony with 
their blood, but of all who had resisted the blasphemous 
usurpations of the Man of sin — who " had not worshipped 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



163 



the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark 
upon their foreheads or in their hands." Until the prin- 
ciples of all who have maintained the truth in opposition 
to his errors have become extinct, there can, therefore, be 
no resurrection of them ; and if, as is maintained, the 
Millennium is to be gradually introduced by the gospel's 
extending influence, this cannot at all take place. How- 
then can this apply to the First Resurrection ? And if 
this Resurrection meant merely the revival and extensive 
prevalence of religion, still we may ask, would such a re - 
vival at a future time, after the various out-pourings of the 
Holy Spirit in different ages, be yet styled " The first 
Resurrection ? 

There is another inconsistency in the supposition of Anti- 
millenarians. These principles having had " part in the 
First Resurrection, on such the second death hath no 
power." Now, as upon their hypothesis, the first death 
of these principles must have taken place before the Millen- 
nium, seeing that at that time they shall enjoy a resurrec- 
tion, so we must suppose the second death their future 
decay or extinction.* Not only is this, however, quite at 
variance with the Scriptural account of the nature of the 
second death, (which means the being cast soul and body 
into the lake of fire; Rev. xx. 14.) but that even such a 
death as we are now supposing, or that a death of any 
kind should again have influence on those who have part in 
the First Resurrection, is directly opposed to the statement 
made by the apostle: " Blessed and holy is He that hath 

* Dr. Hamilton, {p. 215,) supposes "the second resurrection" 
to mean 44 the revival of wicked and irreligious principles and prac- 
tices ;" Dr. Wardlaw also interprets it to be 44 a most singular re- 
appearance of their principles and character ;" (p. 506 ;) and Mr. 
Mason, (Gentiles' Fulness, p. 212,) in like manner renders it 44 the 
great increase of wicked men on the earth." But although believ- 
ers are, in Scripture, said to be spiritually 44 raised from death unto 
life," we know of no instance in which a change of an opposite char- 
acter is so described. Persons under the power of the Wicked One 
are said to be dead in trespasses and sins. Nor is there, in the ac- 
count given in this chapter of the nations' going up upon the 
breadth of the earth, and encompassing the camp of the saints and 
the beloved City, a single word which can be made to convey the 
idea of their malignant attempt being accounted a resurrection* 
Query; Can Dr. Hamilton assign any better reason than his desire 
to support a theory, for having lengthened, (p. 212,) the Scripture 
44 little season." which succeeds the Millennium, into 44 centuries?" 

0 2 



164 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND [Sect. XX. 



part in the First Resurrection, for on such the second death 
(be it what it may, in the opinion of our friends,) hath no 
power. Yet if Christian Principles are to be understood 
as those who have " part in the First Resurrection," we 
find that when Satan is again loosed from his prison, an 
apostasy takes place, which shows that he has obtained 
much power over them in this sort of second death. If, 
then, it had been of these it was said, " Blessed and holy 
is he that hath part in the First Resurrection,' ' could it 
have been added/' on such [principles] the second death 
hath no power 

But the saints whom the apostle describes as having 
" lived, 1 ' in the First Resurrection, shall also "be priests 
of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thous- 
and years." And how is this to be understood of Chris- 
tian principles ? In what possible sense can Christian prin- 
ciples be said to reign with'' Christ? 

Avoiding these inconsistencies, and viewing the language 
in its natural meaning, let us now inquire how the doctrine 
of a separate " resurrection of the just" accords with other 
Scriptures. And, as with respect to the period of Christ's 
Return at the commencement of the Millennium, we shall 
find this also unequivocally stated, and fully implied, in 
many texts both of the Old and New Testaments. 

The prophet Isaiah distinctly refers to a resurrection 
which shall not be enjoyed by all. In his Millennial song, 
(xxvi.) addressing the Lord, he says of " other lords'' who 
had had dominion over them, " They are dead, they shall 
not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise/ 1 But the 
Saviour responds, of another class, " Thy dead men shall 
live, My dead body shall they arise, Awake and sing, ye 
that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs." It 
will be observed that the " together with' in our translation, 
are supplementary. They are not only unnecessary, but by 
their insertion the sense is entirely changed. Their omission 
gives us the Saviour's endearing recognition of the righteous 
as the members of His mystical body — " the fulness of Him 
that filleth all in all;" and their resurrection He accounts 
as His own ; — My dead body shall they arise." And this, 
it is evident from the succeeding context, (xxvi. 14 — 21 ; 
xxvii. 1,) is just at the commencement of the Millennium, 
when the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the 
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, the earth also 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



165 



shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. 
In that day the Lord with his sore, and great, and strong 
sword, shall punish Leviathan, the piercing Serpent, even 
Leviathan that crooked Serpent, and He shall slay the Dra- 
gon that is in the sea," — the very scene described in the 
19th and beginning of the 20th chapters of the Revelation, 
as preceding the First Resurrection. 

The prophet Daniel had a revelation of events, in a con- 
nected order, from his own day down to the period of the 
restoration of Israel, with the precise number of prophetic 
days during which the Church should continue under the 
thraldom of iYntichrist, and which should intervene till the 
commencement of the Millennium. At the close of this 
historical prediction a most enlivening assurance was vouch- 
safed to himself, in connection with that happy time. 
" Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, 
three hundred, and five and thirty days, [from the rise of 
Antichrist.] But go thou thy way till the end be, for thou 
shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." * 
Dan. xii. 12. 

Nor is it Daniel alone who shall enjoy this distinguished 
privilege. The prophet Zechariah says, " And the Lord 
my God shall come, and all the saints with thee!' Zech. 
xiv. 4. Here, then, is a proof that at the pre-millennial 
coming of the Lord, He will be attended by all His saints. 
That this is not at the consummation of all things, is evi- 
dent from the context : " the Lord shall be King over all 
the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord and His 
name one. . . . and Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited," ver. 
9, 11. Isaiah predicts a period when the Lord " will de- 
stroy in this mountain the face of the covering [the face- 
covering] cast over all people, and the vail that is spread 
over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory' 1 
What could be more explicit ? And this also is at the Millen- 

* In understanding this to imply the prophet's resurrection, Mr. 
Mason will observe that the connection in which we have placed 
the passage, renders it unnecessary to go farther " to look for a 
meaning of that clause 4 thou shalt stand in thy lot,' which would 
make the sense of this verse consistent with other parts of the 
Sacred Oracles." (Gentiles' Fulness, p. 200.) That it is in perfect 
consistency, our whole argument demonstrates. What "days" are 
meant is too obvious to require comment. They can be no other 
than those mentioned in the preceding verse. 



166 FIRST RESURRECTION AND [Sect. XX. 



nium, when " the Lord God will wipe away tears from off 
all faces ; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away 
from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it." Is. 
xxv. 7, 8. This prophecy, having the period of its accom- 
plishment plainly declared, is not only in itself a proof of 
the First Resurrection, but throws light upon another pre- 
diction, by the prophet Hosea, equally definite in its na- 
ture, but the period of which, from the abruptness of the 
transitions, is much more obscure : " I will ransom them/' 
says the Lord, " from the power of the grave, I will re- 
deem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues; 
O grave, I will be thy destruction." Hos. xiii. 14. It 
cannot be easily ascertained from the context, when this is 
to take place. But prophetic times are often beautifully 
illustrated by allusions to Old Testament predictions in the 
writings of the evangelists and apostles. So it is in the in- 
stance before us. The apostle Paul, writing to the Corin- 
thian church, and treating fully of the subject, connects 
these predictions of Isaiah and Hosea, as both to be fulfilled 
in the resurrection of the just: " So when this corruption," 
says he, " shall have put on in corruption, and this mortal 
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to 
pass the saying that is written, (by Isaiah,) Death is 
swallowed up in victory, [and, accommodating slightly that 
from Hosea,] O death, where is thy sting? O grave, 
where is thy victory ?" 1 Cor. xv. 54, 55. By thus unit- 
ing these predictions, as to be fulfilled at one time, the 
apostle determines that of Hosea to be also at the Millen- 
nium, when " the Lord God will wipe away tears from off 
all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall he take 
away from off all the earth." And it is farther ascertained 
from this quotation by Paul, that the resurrection of those 
" that are Christ's, at His coming," of which he is treating, 
will be at the Millennium, that being the period predicted 
by Isaiah, with whose prophecy Paul connects the resur- 
rection of the just, when " shall be brought to pass the 
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 
Accordingly, the coming of the Lord is announced by the 
Prophet in the very next verse : " x\nd it shall be said in 
that day, Lo, This is our God, we have waited for Him^ 
and He will save us ; This is the Lord ; we have waited 
for him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." 
Is. xxv. 9. 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



167 



In the extracts made from the Prophets, it has been seen 
that even the inferior animals are, at the Restitution of all 
things, to have their natures restored, that they may live in 
the state of harmony in which they existed at creation's 
dawn. For the punishment of man's sin, the curse was 
made to operate with baneful influence on the irrational 
and inanimate creatures. But even of this triumph over 
God's creation, Satan will be despoiled at the Millennium, 
while he himself is bound. For their release at this period, 
the apostle Paul, in beautiful figure, represents the whole 
creation as groaning, connecting with it the redemption of 
the bodies of the children of God: " For I reckon," says 
he, " that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy 
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in 
us. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth 
for the manifestation of the sons of God — (for the creation 
was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but on account 
of him who hath subjected the same) — in hope that the 
creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of 
corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of 
God, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and 
travaileth in pain together until now ; and not only they, 
but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, 
[who have the Spirit as the first-fruits or earnest of our future 
hopes,] even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting 
for the adoption, the redemption of our body!' Rom. viii. 
.18 — 23. It was the sin of man which " subjected' ' the irra- 
tional Animals to all the suffe rings they endure. The cause 
was not in themselves, for they were " made subject to 
vanity not willingly, but on account of him who hath sub- 
jected the same." But at the Millennium, as we have 
already shown, (p. 62,) they " also shall be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption." This deliverance they shall 
enjoy when we receive *' the redemption of our body," and 
therefore "the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth 
for the manifestation of the sons of God." Thus 
does the apostle connect the restoration of their natures, 
at the Millennium, with the manifestation of the sons of 
God, when they also shall be delivered into the glorious 
liberty of His children. And as " the manifestation of 
the sons of God," for which the creatures wait in earnest 
expectation, is " the redemption of our body/' it follows 



168 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND [Sect. XX. 



that our resurrection must take place at the commencement 
of the Millennium, that being the period when the creation 
" shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. " * 

* We have inserted the passage according to Dr. Wardlaw's ren- 
dering and punctuation, as more perspicuous than that in our tran- 
slation. We would, however, also venture a remark on his inter- 
pretation. 44 I freely admit," says he, (p, 471,) " that, looking at the 
immediate context, we might naturally be led to conceive the 4 mani- 
festation of the. sons of God' to be the time commencing with, and 
succeeding the resurrection of the just." In this we cordially con- 
cur, and beg to add, that we consider 44 the immediate context," 
preceding and succeeding, as perfectly legitimate evidence of the 
period to which the apostle refers. 44 I have no doubt," says the 
Doctor, 44 that the full import of the phrase 4 the manifestation of 
the sons of God,' does remain to be realized at the resurrection of 
the just — the 4 adoption, even the redemption of their body,' for 
which the 24th verse represents them [ 44 the creation" — which he 
understands of the Inferior creation] as longing with the earnest- 
ness of a burdened spirit." (p. 472 J But he speaks of the 44 open- 
ing" and 44 commencement," as well as of the 44 full " manifes- 
tation of the sons of God ; and while he applies the latter term to 
the close of the Millennium, he regards it as warrantable to use the 
former in reference to the Millennium itself. This, however, is a 
distinction of which the apostle gives not the slightest hint. He 
speaks of only one period as that of 44 the manifestation of the sons 
of God;" and this is that of 44 the adoption, even the redemption 
of our body" Neither form of expression admits of degrees, although 
the Doctor supposes that the Millennium 44 may well be designated 
'the manifestation of the sons of God,' when they and their cause 
shall appear universally triumphant." But it is only the resur- 
rection of which the apostle speaks as 44 the adoption, even the 
redemption of our body," and for this very time he represents the 
creation as 44 waiting" and 44 groaning." If, then, their deliverance 
from the burden imposed upon them is to take place at the com- 
mencement of the Millennium, then also must be the resurrection 
of the just— for it would be quite improper to say they groan 
" waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God" if their deliver- 
ance were to take place 1000 years earlier than that 44 manifesta- 
tion." Such an interpretation appears still more inconsistent, 
when we observe that the creation's deliverance would not only be 
made to precede thus long 44 the redemption of our body," but that 
by placing our 44 redemption" subsequent to the Millennium, we 
put it posterior even to the term of their existence, and thus make 
them to be 44 groaning," and 44 hoping," and 4i waiting in earnest 
expectation" not, as the apostle represents, for the time of their 
deliverance, but for the time of their annihilation. If there were no 
premillennial resurrection of the just, we cannot conceive that the 
Inferior creation would be said to look forward to the period of 
44 the redemption of our body" as that of their deliverance at the 
Millennium. This is a difficulty from which the Antimillenarian 
can never be relieved by any view of the continuity and identity of a. 
particular community. 



Si2CT. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



169 



But decisive as these clear and beautifully connected illus- 
trations of such Old Testament prophecies are, the doctrine 
of a separate resurrection of the just may also be directly 
proved from other passages in the New Testament. In 
reply to the cavils of the Sadducees, our Lord himself said, 
" the children of * this age' marry and are given in mar- 
riage, but they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain 
'that age,' and the resurrection from the dead, [or, as it 
ought rather to have been rendered, out of, or from amongst 
the dead,*] neither marry nor are given in marriage, neither 
can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels, 
and are the children of God, being the children of the re- 
surrection/' Luke xx. 34—36. It is not "the resurrec- 
tion out of the state of the dead 11 that is spoken of, but a 
resurrection out of or from among dead ones, or dead per- 
sons. The same word that is used by our Lord in the 37th 
verse when he says, " Now that the dead are raised/' (clearly 
the persons dead,) he here employs when he speaks of " the 
resurrection from [amongst] the dead." ver. 35. But with- 
out at present insisting on the peculiarity of expression in 
the original of this and other passages where the resurrec- 
tion of the just is spoken of in distinction from the general 
resurrection— being called the resurrection " from amongst" 
the dead — it is obvious that the resurrection of which the 
Saviour here speaks, and also " the age" for which they are 
raised, are not to be obtained by all. There are only some 
who " shall be accounted worthy' of this high privilege ; 
and these, we are expressly told, " are the children of God," 
— nay, that they are his children, is implied in the very fact 
of their "being" the children of this resurrection. And as 
John says of them to whom he refers as being made par- 

* The same word here used occurs in this sense, in the following 
passages : 44 A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, 
bringeth forth good things ; and an evil man, out of the evil trea- 
sure, bringeth forth evil things." Matt. xii. 35. 44 God did visit 
the Gpntiles to take out of them, a people for his name." Acts xv. 
14. 44 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own ; but 
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the 
world, therefore the world hateth you." John xv. 19. 44 And they 
sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to 
open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us 
to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
and nation." Rev. v. 9. 44 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out [from] 
» among you, seven men of honest report." Acts vi. 3. 44 For every 
High Priest taken from among men is ordained for men." Heb, v. 1. 



170 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND 



[Sect. XX. 



takers of the First Resurrection, that they are not only 
blessed and holy, but that " on such the second death hath 
no power/' so the Saviour also says of those " who shall 
be accounted worthy to obtain" it, that " neither can they 
die any more/' * 

On another occasion when our Lord was inculcating 
upon one of the chief Pharisees the duty of making his 
feasts for the poor, who could not make him a return, He 
promised that for so doing he should be rewarded " at the 
resurrection of the just "When thou makest a feast, 
call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou 
shalt be blessed ; for they cannot recompense thee ; for 
thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the 
just." Luke xiv. 13, 14. And let it be remarked, that 
here it is not the resurrection " from amongst" the just, 
but "at the resurrection of the just." 

To this resurrection the Saviour must have referred, 
(John vi. 39, 40, 44, 54,) when He promises to raise up 
believers f ■ at the last day." Day is, in Scripture, frequently 
applied to an indefinite period of time. Thus the Saviour 

• The Examinator in the Instructor, (p. 536,) has endeavoured 
to construct an argument against the doctrine of the premillennial 
resurrection from the fact of the immortality of the arisen saints. His 
objection had been perfectly just if it were maintained that during 
the Millennium there should be none living in the flesh. All his re- 
marks on this head, however, are founded on a misapprehension of 
Mr. Irving's statements. Millenarians as fully admit as does the 
Examinator himself, the immortality and incorruptibility of the 
resurrection saints. But that there is another class at that time 
upon the earth, is evident from the prophecies. " For the child 
shall die an hundred years old." Is. lxv. 20. There will not only be 
those who " live and reign with Christ," but there will also be those 
who are reigned over. 

Dr. Wardlaw's mistakes on the subject are still more surprising, 
as he appears to have read the Dissertations of Ben Ezra, which 
clearly unfold this doctrine, specifying the distinction between the 
resurrection saints and those still in the flesh. Yet the Doctor, " on 
the Millenarian hypothesis," sees no place for the apostasy after 
the Millennium, but by supposing it to be a combination " of the 
wicked dead, after they are raised from their graves!" (p. 510.) 
He again takes for granted that Millenarians believe that there will 
be none living in the flesh during the Millennium, since he con- 
siders it an argument against our system that death is to be " the 
last enemy." (p. 510.) And subsequently he asks with wonder, 
(p. 516,) " What becomes of 6 the seed of the blessed of the Lord, 
and their offspring with themj if during that age they shall neither 
marry nor be given in marriage?" 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



171 



said, on a certain occasion, to the Jews, (John viii. 56,) 
" Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day." Again, 
the "forty years, v during which the Israelites traversed 
the wilderness, are, by the Psalmist and the apostle Paul, 
called "the day of temptation." Ps. xcv. 8 — 10. Heb. iii. 
8, 9. So also is the period of the Millennium called a 
Day: " The Lord shall be King over all the earth. In 
that day shall there be one Lord, and His name One." 
Zech. xiv. 9. The same form of expression is common 
among ourselves. Thus we speak of " Newton, and the 
men of his day," when we refer, not to any particular day 
of his life, but to the period at which he and his contem- 
poraries lived. Nay is it not also common to speak of the 
Millennium itself as "the coming day/' and " the glori- 
ous day ?" 

But it is also to be remarked, that the resurrection of 
which the Saviour here speaks is promised as a special 
blessing to be bestowed on believers. But this it would 
not be if all were raised at the same time. Nor is the 
promise of this resurrection only held out as a special 
blessing, but this being the only promise made to them 
implies the high value of such an honour : " And I will 
raise him up at the last day." This language would no 
doubt be perfectly intelligible and distinct to the Jews, 
who, from the prophecies cited in the preceding part of this 
inquiry, were prepared to expect the resurrection of the 
saints at the period when the kingdom should be restored 
to Israel. For however reluctant they were to receive 
literally the predictions of a suffering Messiah, they anti- 
cipated with delight the accomplishment of those relative 
to the period when " the Lord shall be King over all the 
earth/' and when " the Lord my God shall come, and all 
the saints with Thee." Zech. iv. 5, 9. Such of them 
therefore, as were brought to the acknowledgment and 
reception of Him in his mediatorial character, on having 
their faith directed forward to the "last day," — the period 
of the Saviour's Return — would at once recognize the allu- 
sion to the Millennial day as that at which the resurrec- 
tion of the saints shall take place. x\nd it is only to the 
righteous the gracious assurance of Jesus was now given 
that He " will raise him up at the last day." It is only 
to those whom the Father hath given Him — to those who 



172 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND [Sect. XX. 



believe on Him — to those who are drawn by the Father, 
— and to those who having eaten His flesh and drank 
His blood, have eternal life. From the speciality of the 
promise therefore, the Saviour plainly refers to the First 
Resurrection, the characters being, as the apostle John 
expressively designates them, " blessed and holy/' And, 
instead of making any allusion to a natural day, we must 
understand this " Last Day " as the period of Millennial 
bliss — the last great division of time prior to the general 
resurrection — to that period which the apostle Peter calls 
" the last time, " when he speaks of the inheritance of the 
saints being 66 reserved in heaven/' ready to be then re- 
vealed. 1 Pet. i. 4, 5. 

It was doubtless the same resurrection which the apos- 
tle Paul, (Phil. iii. 11,) earnestly desired "if by any 
means" he might attain. Warning the Philippian Church 
of the enmity of the carnal Jews, who held circumcision 
as being necessary to salvation, he notices his own preten- 
sions on this ground ; but having " no confidence in the 
flesh/' he reckons these advantages as worthless in them- 
selves. The privileges which had been of gain to him, 
and which might have raised him to worldly dignity among 
his countrymen, he counted as loss for the excellency of 
the knowledge of Christ for whom he suffered. His great 
desire now was that he might know the power of Christ's 
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, even if 
this should he by being made conformable to Him by a 
violent death. And the reason of this self-denial, and the 
hope which sustained him, he tells us, was, "if by any 
means He might attain unto the resurrection of the dead," 
or rather, as in this instance also it ought to have been 
translated, "from amongst the dead." The resurrection 
at which he aimed, it is evident, was not to be obtained by 
all, for it was a privilege he was anxious to obtain,* yet 

* Should it appear incredible, we can assure such of our readers 
as may not have seen Dr. Hamilton's work, that he endeavours to 
escape from the force of this passage, by the extraordinary expedient 
of denying altogether its being a literal resurrection which Paul strove 
to attain. " The apostle," he says, (p. 196) " declares, that though 
spiritually alive and risen with Christ; he was not completely 
delivered from spiritual death, and was labouring to lay hold on 
all the honour and blessedness of the spiritual resurrection from 
the dead" ! ! 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



173 



all will be raised at the general resurrection. It must, 
therefore, have been one of a peculiar kind which the 
apostle so earnestly desired to attain, — doubtless the sepa- 
rate "resurrection of the just." 

That there will be a peculiar resurrection at Christ's 
return is obvious from Paul's first epistle to the Corin- 
thians, (xv. 23.) The apostle speaking fully of the resur- 
rection, says, " But every man in his own order, Christ 
the first-fruits ; afterwards, they that are Christ's at 
his coming!' But if, at the coming of Christ, the general 
resurrection w T ill take place, why does the apostle thus 
limit it to those "that are Christ's?" It has indeed been 
affirmed, that, as the apostle immediately adds, " Then 
corneth the end," that this must be at the same time, or 
just after it. But the text gives no countenance to any 
such opinion. The apostle's object in the passage was, 
to declare the order of the resurrection, which he does, as 
being in three distinct divisions : " Every man in his own 
order — Christ the first-fruits — afterwards they that are 
Christ's at His Coming — then cometh the end." And as 
between the resurrection of Christ, (the first-fruits,) and 
that of those who are His at his Return, about 1800 years 
have already elapsed ; so may there be, with equal pro- 
priety, the thousand years' reign of Christ between their 
being raised and the general resurrection at "the end." 
Accordingly, the apostle, in the following verses, places the 
duration of Christ's kingdom between the period of His com- 
ing and the end.^ For the Saviour himself, after having given 
the indications of His return, instructs his disciples that when 
these come to pass they may know " that the kingdom of 
God is nigh at hand!' Luke xxi. 31. But, at "the end" 
referred to by the apostle, he informs us the kingdom shall 
be delivered up to the Father : " Then cometh the end, 
when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, 
even the Father ; when He shall have put down all rule, 
and all authority and power, For He must reign till He 
hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy 
that shall be destroyed is death. For He [the Father] 
hath put all things under His feet. .and when all things 
shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Him- 
self be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, 
that God may be all in all." 1 Cor. xv. 24—28. As, then, 

P 



174 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND [Sect. XX. 



the kingdom only commences at Christ's return, and as 
Death is the last enemy which shall be destroyed before 
the kingdom be delivered up, there must be the period of 
its whole duration between the resurrection of those who 
are Christ's at His coming, and that of those over whom 
death holds dominion till the period when the kingdom 
shall come to an end.* 

Paul in his first epistle to the Thessalonians, (iv. 14— 
17,) comforts them concerning their deceased friends in 
Christ, that they should not sorrow as those who have no 
hope : " For, if we believe," says the apostle, " that Jesus 
died and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus 
will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by 
the word of the Lord, that we [believers] who are alive 
and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent 
[or precede] them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself 

* The Reviewer in the Edinburgh Theological Magazine, though 
extremely desirous of delaying the resurrection of the righteous 
till 44 the end," yet in his criticism on the Greek adverbs translated 
in the above passage 44 afterwards " and " then," makes an acknow- 
ledgment totally subversive of the argument he labours to support, 
"Ezra and ururu, as well as their English equivalents," he admits, 
(as quoted by Dr. Hamilton, p. 187,) 44 when they happen to de- 
note sequence of time, may denote any sequence you please, — 
either immediate or remote, — either that in which the events fol- 
low each other rapidly, and consequently at short intervals, or that 
in which they follow each other slowly, and consequently at long 
intervals. You may say, properly enough, a man winked first with 
the one eye, then with the other, and after that with the other again; 
and you may say, with equal propriety, the world was first made, 
then was it drowned by the deluge, and afterwards it will be con- 
sumed by fire. The then and the afterwards are precisely the same 
in both these cases, although in the one case each interval of the 
sequence occupies only the twinkling of an eye, while in the other 
it occupies many centuries, or even Millenniums." The reviewer 
himself then being judge, no argument could have been derived for 
a simultaneous resurrection of the just and unjust, from the words 
"then cometh the end " immediately following the account of the 
resurrection of those 44 that are Christ's at His coming," even if 
the passage had contained no other evidence by which the opposite 
is established. But as we have shown above, between the coming 
of Christ and the end of all things, when the last enemy death shall 
be finally destroyed, the apostle interposes the whole reign of 
Christ, the Kingdom being only 44 nigh at hand," when the signs of 
His Coming are seen, and at 44 the end " the apostle informs us 
that the Kingdom is to be delivered up, 44 for He must reign till He 
hath put all enemies under His feet," the last enemy being destroyed 
in the final resurrection. 



SECT. XX.] REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



175 



shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of 
the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first ; [that is, before the living be 
changed;] Then we which are alive and remain shall be 
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the 
Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever ivith the Lord. 99 
Here again it is to be observed, that at the coming of Christ 
it is only those who " sleep in Jesus" that God brings 
with Him— it is only "the dead in Christ" who rise be- 
fore the change takes place upon the living, — and it is only 
the righteous living who shall be caught up in the clouds, 
for they shall be ever "with the Lord," a privilege which 
the unrighteous shall not enjoy.* 

So again, in a passage to part of which we have already 
referred, in noticing those from Isaiah and Hosea, the same 
apostle, addressing the Corinthian Church, (1 Cor. xv. 51 
--55,) says, "Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall 
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed ; in a moment, in 
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet 
shall sound,) and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, 
and we shall be changed ; for this corruptible must put on 
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall 
be brought to pass the saying that is written, [in Isaiah,] 
Death is swallowed up of victory: [And in Hosea,] O 
death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?" 
Having already proved from the prophet Isaiah that the 

• Dr. Wardlaw has some remarks, (p. 514) on the above passage, 
from which it would seem he considers that he has destroyed the evi« 
deuce to be derived from it in proof of two resurrections by point- 
ing out a mistake into which some have fallen, in supposing the ex- 
pression " the dead in Christ shall rise first," as referring directly to 
the resurrection of the righteous dead as preceding that of the 
wicked dead. But the passage affords evidence which the correc- 
tion does not in the least affect. True, the apostle speaks of the prece- 
dence which "the dead in Christ" shall have over the living righteous 
in being firstglorified ; but it is no less true that he does not speak 
of the resurrection of all the dead as simultaneous. The change 
upon the righteous living is not to be preceded by the general resur- 
rection, but only by that of " the dead in Christ" clearly implying 
that all are not then raised. For unless there were two resurrections, 
why should the apostle, instead of merely saying the change upon 
the living would not take place till after the resurrection of the dead 
thus restrict that precedence to " the dead in christ "f 

P 2 



176 FIRST RESURRECTION AXD [Sect. XX. 



accomplishment of his prediction is at the Millennium, and 
by consequence, this of Paul's also at the same time, we 
revert to the passage now, merely to prove that it is the 
resurrection of believers only of which the apostle speaks. 
This, then, is evident from the forty-third verse, for it is 
only of the believer's body it can be said, " it is sown in 
dishonour, it is raised in glory" for the wicked shall be 
raised to shame and contempt. Those of whom the apostle 
speaks he farther describes as those who have not only 
borne the image of the earthly Adam, but who shall also 
bear the image of "the Lord from heaven."* ver. 47 — 49. 

So, also, immediately after the tribulation predicted, 
when the Son of Man comes, in the clouds of heaven, with 
power and great glory, as announced by our Saviour him- 
self, His angels are sent to gather " His elect, 19 only, from 
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, while 
all the tribes of the earth mourn. Mat. xxiv. 31. Then, 
also, " shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, 
and the other left ; two grinding at the mill, the one shall 
be taken, and the other left!' Mat. xxiv. 40, 41. When, 

* This passage the Examinator in the Instructor, (p. 536.) ap- 
plies to the resurrection of all ; although, as we have shown, the 
context limits it to that of the saints. Its taking place at 44 the 
last trump" he appears to consider as militating against the 
doctrine of a separate resurrection of the just ; for, quoting the 
Greek words, he asks, 44 Is there any after this ?" And then, very 
conveniently, converting the trump into the resurrection itself, he 
asks, %; If this is the last resurrection, then where is the first of the 
bodies of the saints ?" When he shall have proved this to be the last 
"resurrection," we may perhaps give him some additional evidence 
for 44 the first of the bodies of the saints;" and meanwhile beg to 
commend to his serious perusal what we have now produced. From 
the spirit he displays, there is ground to hope that should he be 
convinced of his error he will not refuse to make the acknowledg- 
ment, as some reparation to the injured truth. The temper certain 
others have diplayed in their opposition leaves little to be hoped 
in their case. 

Still, however, with respect to 44 the last trump," it certainly im- 
plies that some precede it. But excepting that in the Apocalypse, 
there is no other series of trumpets mentioned in Scripture as 
subsequent to the times of the apostle, to which, although the 
Apocalypse was not then written, this inspired penman might be 
directed to refer. And as it is just at the sounding of the seventh, 
(the last of the Apocalyptic series,) that the destruction of Babylon 
is effected, immediately before John announces the First Resurrec- 
tion, this also tends to the support of our argument. 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



177 



on another occasion, our Lord, speaking of this very 
subject, made a similar statement, His disciples asked 
"where" or whither would they be taken, when thus 
removed from their worldly companions ? Jesus answered, 
"wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be 
gathered together." Luke xvii. 37. This figure is again 
used, Mat. xxiv. 28; and is well explained by Paul, when 
he says, "Then we who are alive and remain shall be 
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the 
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 
Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 
iv. 17. 

Now, if there had been only one resurrection of the dead, 
and at the same time a change of all the living, and this 
were to be at the coming of the Lord, How is it that a 
resurrection of the saints is clearly predicted as to be en- 
joyed at the Millennium, and that in all these passages 
from the New Testament, speaking of the resurrection at 
Christ's return, the wicked are carefully excluded, and 
that our Lord expressly declares that there is an age all 
are not accounted worthy to obtain, and a resurrection 
peculiar to the children of God? Are we not compelled 
to admit that there will be a separate " resurrection of the 
just," and that this is indeed that "better resurrection," 
the hope of which animated and sustained the saints of 
old in torture and in death, (Heb. xi, 14,) and which all 
the righteous shall obtain ? And can it be denied that this 
will be at the sounding of the seventh or last Apocalyptic 
trumpet, when Christ takes His great power and reigns ? 
— " And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, 
and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and 
that thou shouldest give reward to Thy servants the pro- 
phets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name 
small and great," Rev. xi. 18. Does not this imply that 
"the time of the dead," which is just at the destruction of 
Antichrist, is the period of their resurrection ; and that 
their "reward" is that which John saw bestowed on those 
who had been slain for the word of God, and those who 
had not submitted to the authority of the beast ? — " and 
they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand 
years were finished. This is the First Resurrection. 

p3 



178 



First resurrection and 



[Sect. XX. 



Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First Resur- 
rection/' Rev. xx. 4 — 6. 

But, before leaving this part of the subject, fidelity to 
the divine word requires that we should notice a passage 
which seems to be regarded as a very doubtful auxiliary, 
both by those who oppose the doctrine of a separate resur- 
rection, and by some who espouse it: "And many of 
them," said the expounding angel to the beloved Daniel, 
*' And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth 
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame 
and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall 
shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that 
turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." 
Dan. xii. 2, 3. That this cannot be the general resurrec- 
tion is evident not only from the time at which it takes 
place, but also from the fact that it is not of all the dead, 
but only of hS many OF them who sleep in the dust of the 
earth. v That it is at the restoration of Israel is obvious 
from the verse immediately preceding: "And at that 
time [when the Turkish empire shall be destroyed *] 
shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth 
for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time 
of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even 
to that same time ; [the days of tribulation immediately 
after which the Saviour predicted His return. Mat. xxiv, 
27 ;] and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every 
one that shall be found written in the book/' On the 
other hand, there is a seeming inconsistency between this 
passage and those already quoted, which take no notice 
of any being raised at the coming of the Lord to shame 
and contempt. Here, however, it is explicitly declared, 
that, at the restoration of Daniel's people, this will be the 
awful fate of " some," and we do not -feel at liberty either 
to doubt the fact or overlook the prediction. Not a few, 
indeed, understand the resurrection " to everlasting life " 
as at the cornmencement of the Millennium ; and that to 
" shame and everlasting contempt" at its close. This^ how- 
ever, is a distinction which the prophecy does not admit. 

f It will be seen we prefer the interpretation given of the pre- 
ceding chapter by Sir Isaac Newton, and generally received, as re- 
ferring to the Ottoman empire, rather than the application made 
of it by Mr. Irving to the Infidel Antichrist. 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



179 



Both classes rise at the same time ; and, united, they 
make the "many" who " shall awake." The resurrection 
of " some'' to shame and conte?npt, is therefore as really 
at the restoration of Israel as that of " some" others to 
everlasting life. Perhaps the seeming inconsistency may, 
however, be removed, by supposing that the "some" raised 
to shame will form so small a portion of those who shall 
then " awake" from the dust, as not to be noticed in the 
more general statements referring primarily to the hopes 
of believers and addressed to their faith. And, if we far- 
ther believe these to be men who in life were superlatively 
wicked, it will tend to throw light on some passages of 
Scripture otherwise obscure. 

There are few characters more decidedly reprobated in 
the Sacred Writings than that of Balaam. Although an 
acknowledged "prophet," he " loved the wages of unright- 
eousness!' (2 Pet. ii. 15, 16.) He fervently sought to be 
allowed to curse the children of Israel, that he might re- 
ceive reward from their enemies. But " it pleased the Lord 
to bless Israel ;" and Balaam being chosen the unwilling 
instrument of Jehovah's purpose, "the Spirit of God came 
upon him," and repeatedly was he constrained to deliver the 
unwelcome message from the Lord. His renewed efforts 
to procure a reversion of the blessing, only occasioned the 
enlargement of its specifications, and his concluding words 
to Balak the King of Moab confirm the opinion we are 
now seeking to illustrate : — " And now, behold, I go unto 
my people; come therefore, and I will advertise thee what 
this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. And 
he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor, 
hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said ; 
he hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew 
the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of 
the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes 
open : / shall see him, but not now ; I shall behold him, 
but not nigh : there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and 
a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners 
of Moab, [or, * smite through the princes of Moab/ marg.] 
and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be 
a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies ; 
and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come He 
that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that re- 



180 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND 



[Sect. XX. 



maineth of the city. And when he looked on Amalek, he 
took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the 
nations, [' that warred against Israel/ ?narg.] but his latter 
end shall be, that he perish for ever. And he looked on the 
Kenites ; and he took up his parable, and said, Strong is 
thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock : 
Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Ashur shall 
carry thee away captive. And he took up his parable and said, 
Alas ! who shall live when God doeth this?" Num. xxiv. 14 
— 23. These verses thus contain evidence both of the Savi- 
our's premillennial advent, and of Balaam's resurrection at 
that time. There is little reason to doubt that Christ is the 
"Star" and the "Sceptre" whom Balaam was to see. He re- 
fers not to the vision he then obtained, for it was to be "not 
now," — " not ?righ," but — " in the latter days." Now this 
Star is to " smite through the princes of Moab, and destroy 
all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, 
Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies ; and Israel 
shall do valiantly . v This appears plainly to refer to those 
times immediately before the Millennium, when, as we 
have already shown, (p. 43,) the Israelites are to spoil 
Edom and Moab and the children of Ammon ; and to the 
awful destruction by which the world shall then be over- 
taken, Balaam appears to refer, when he says, " Alas ! who 
shall live when God doeth this ?" ver. 23. Some have in- 
deed supposed David or Solomon to be the Star spoken of, 
because of their having subdued the countries here men- 
tioned. But this Star, Balaam is to " see," and it is not 
the subjugation, but the destruction of these nations which 
is predicted, thus corresponding with other prophecies con- 
cerning " the latter days." But as Balaam will not be 
found among the righteous, his beholding the Saviour at 
this time is a proof of the premillennial resurrection of 
some of the wicked — and the ringer of Inspiration points 
to his sin as peculiarly aggravated ; it is that of a monster. 

There are other passages which countenance the idea 
that some whose guilt has been awfully aggravated, will 
be also raised at the commencement of the Millennium, 
as monuments of God's wrath. In a passage already 
quoted, (Is. xxvi.) this idea is distinctly brought before us, 
• 6 Thy dead men shall live ; my dead body shall they 
arise ; awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



181 



is as the dew of herbs/' This resurrection of the righteous 
is here contrasted, in its happy nature, with what imme- 
diately follows. For while they are said tranquilly to 
arise, and are called to " awake and sing" in holy joy, it 
is added, " And [or, ' but '] the earth shall cast out her 
giants :" — for so it appears the word here translated "dead" 
ought to have been rendered. — Our translators in this, as in 
some other cases, not perceiving the idea of the text, but cer- 
tain that the Repkaim must be dead, since the earth is called 
to cast them out, made that substitution which doubtless must 
have appeared to them most distinct, but which does not 
convey the precise idea of the Original. In almost every 
other instance, this word has been translated giants, (as 
in Deut. iL 20. Josh. xii. 4. 1 Chron. xx. 4, 6, 8;) and 
appears always to signify men either tall in stature or great 
in crime. When therefore they are to be " cast out" of 
the earth at the period of the Millennium, in contrast to 
those who shall "awake and sing," it may be viewed as 
confirmatory of the opinion that the " some " who shall 
awake to shame and contempt are the giants in crime — 
the pre-eminently wicked. 

We meet these Rephaim, or giants, in another prediction, 
by Isaiah, of the overthrow of the King of Babylon : 
" Hell from beneath," says the prophet, "is moved for 
thee, to meet thee at thy coming. It stirreth up the giants 
for thee, even the chief ones of the earth." Is. xiv. 9. 
Although the prophet, in some parts of the prediction, 
seems to connect it with the fate of ancient Babylon, there 
are many circumstances which determine its general appli- 
cation to the last Antichrist. In the third verse, we are 
expressly told that it shall come to pass in the day that 
the Lord shall give the house of Israel rest from their 
sorrow and fear, and from the hard bondage they are made 
to serve. At the destruction of this power "the whole 
earth is at rest and is quiet, they break forth into singing/' 
ver. 7. His pride and blasphemy are also just what is 
predicted of Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots : 
" For thou hast said in thine heart, I w T ill ascend into 
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. . . • 
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds ; I will be 
like the Most High." ver. 13, 14. And as in the pas- 
sage already noticed the giants are "cast out" of the 



182 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND 



[Sect. XX. 



earth at the Millennium, so it is remarkable that here not 
only does hell stir up the giants for this wicked king, but 
a similar fate is predicted for himself : " All the kings of 
the nations/' continues the prophet, " even all of them lie 
in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast 
out of thy grave, like an abominable branch, and as the 
raiment of them that are slain, thrust through with a sword, 
that go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcase trodden 
under foot. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, 
because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy peo- 
ple/' ver. 18 — 20, In referring to the war of the Anti- 
christian nations, immediately before the Millennium, (Rev. 
xix. 20,) we have already seen that " the beast was ta- 
ken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles 
[or wonders] before him. . . .these both were cast into alake 
of fire burning with brimstone." And although the bind- 
ing of Satan, and casting him into the bottomless pit, dur- 
ing the Millennium, does not seem to include his condem- 
nation to this place of misery, yet the same portion awaits 
him after it ; and when the nations which go up on the 
breadth of the earth, and compass the camp of the saints 
about, and the beloved city, have been devoured by fire 
from heaven, " the devil that deceived them was cast into 
the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false 
prophet are" during that happy time. Rev. xx. 10. But 
if this king of Babylon, spoken of by Isaiah, be indeed the 
same Antichrist who is, in John's vision, " cast into a lake 
of fire," while those who will be his associates in the last 
great conflict are slain, and " all the fowls of heaven are 
filled with their flesh,'' then it appears this place of tor- 
ment is to be upon the earth, and within the view of men, 
for the prophet says, " Yet thou shalt be brought down to 
hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall 
narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is 
this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did 
shake kingdoms ; that made the world as a wilderness ?" 
ver. 15 — 17. So, also, in the close of this prophecy, 
Isaiah gives a similar but more distinct prediction of this 
place of punishment, in connection with the Millennium : 
" For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will 
make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your 
seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



183 



from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to 
another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith 
the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the 
carcases of the men that have transgressed against me ; 
for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be 
quenched: and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh/' 
Is. lxvi. 22 — 24. Thus will be displayed the divine in- 
dignation against sin, in the visible punishment of those 
so raised to shame and contempt : " For Tophet is 
ordained of old ; yea for the king it is prepared ; He hath 
made it deep and large ; the pile thereof is fire and much 
wood ; the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone 
doth kindle it." Is. xxx. 33. 

Nor will this view of those pre-eminently wicked, " the 
giants" in depravity, being raised to shame and contempt, at 
the commencement of the Millennium, appear inconsistent 
with the more general statements of the holy character and 
happy state of those who shall enjoy the First Resurrection, 
when we attend to instances of a similar kind in Scripture. 
Thus, in Eccles. iii. 20, it is said, " All go unto one place. All 
are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." But this 
cannot be understood as including absolutely the whole 
human family. For, besides the translated two who went 
direct from earth to heaven, we know that " we shall not 
all sleep," but that some shall be " alive and remain unto 
the coming of the Lord," who, being changed, shall be 
rendered incorruptible and immortal. But these excep- 
tions do not affect the great truth uttered by the Preacher, 
that all die, and being buried moulder in the dust. An- 
other similar instance occurs in the statement by the apostle 
Paul of the order of the resurrection, in which he overlooks 
altogether that of certain saints immediately after Christ 
had arisen : " And the earth did quake, and the rocks 
rent," narrates the evangelist Matthew, in his account of 
the Saviour's crucifixion, " and the graves were opened ; 
and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came 
out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into 
the holy city, and appeared unto many." Matt, xxvii. 
51 — 53. Yet the apostle, speaking expressly of the order 
of the resurrection, (] Cor. xv. 23,) wholly overlooks these, 
although the evangelist says they were many : " Every 
man in his own order," says the apostle, " Christ the first- 



184 



FIRST RESURRECTION AND [Sect. XX. 



fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming." 
Although, in reality, they were " many," yet the number 
of these saints who arose immediately after Christ's resur- 
rection was still small compared with that of those who 
" are Christ's at His coming, and therefore no mention is 
made of them. So, in speaking of the Millennial period, 
the prophet Isaiah (lx. 21) says, " thy people also shall 
be all righteous ;" although speaking elsewhere of this pe- 
riod, he informs us, that " the sinner being an hundred 
years old shall be accursed, 73 Is. lxv. 20. Thus, then, 
may there be some raised to shame and contempt, without 
affecting the general truth, " Blessed and holy is he that 
hath part in the First Resurrection, on such the second 
death hath no power/' being " accounted worthy to obtain 
that age and the resurrection from amongst the dead." 

But there is an additional circumstance mentioned by 
John, in his description of those who are the subjects of 
the First Resurrection. They not only "lived," and were 
" blessed and holy/' but he also informs us "they shall be 
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a 
thousand years." By inquiring, then, to whom these priv- 
ileges are assigned in other parts of the Divine Word, we 
shall derive farther confirmation of the views now main- 
tained. Here it is proper to remember, that, although the 
affairs of this world are represented (Heb. i. 14) as being 
put by God under the ministration of angels, yet " unto 
the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, 
whereof we speak." * Heb. ii. 5. To His apostles the 

* The Examinator in the Instructor (p. 528) quotes Paul's state- 
ment (Heb. vi.,5.) of the condition of those who should fall away- 
after having 44 tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the 
world to come," in order to show that the apostle " speaks of that 
age to come as already commenced, and as already come." But if at 
that time it had already come, how could the apostle speak of it as 
still future, as being still " the world to come ?" There is an obvious 
distinction between the age itself and the " powers" which shall be 
enjoyed by those who are " accounted worthy" to obtain it. And, 
while the age itself was yet distant, in the apostolic times, "gifts" 
were enjoyed which may perhaps be regarded as a foretaste of the 
superior " powers" to be enjoyed in 44 the world to come." The 
apostle in the passage, quoted above, expressly tells us that the 
world to come is not put in subjection to the angels, but this cannot 
apply to the present age : fc4 Are they not all ministering spirits," 
asks the same apostle, 44 sent forth to minister for them, who shall 
be heirs of salvation ?" Heb. i. 14. 



Sect. XX.] 



REIGN OF THE SAINTS. 



185 



Saviour said, " Ye are they which have continued with me 
in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as 
my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and 
drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judg- 
ing the twelve tribes of Israel" Luke xxii. 28 — 30. 
When will this gracious reward be received if not during 
the Millennium ? Or will the distinction of the tribes of Israel 
be maintained in the future state ? This promise of royal 
authority, thus made by the Saviour to His apostles, is 
extended by them to other saints as their future reward : 
" I endure all things for the elect's sake/' says Paul, " that 
they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus 
with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying, For if we be dead 
with Him we shall also live with Him. If we suffer, we 
shall also reign with Him!' 2 Tim. ii. 10 — 12. And 
again, anticipating the glorious privilege for himself and all 
believers, he exclaims, " Henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the Right- 
eous Judge shall give me at that day,* and not to me 

* Here the apostle, as if to mark that this crown is to be received 
at "the times of the Restitution of all things," adopts the very 
form of expression so often used by the prophets in reference to that 
period — 44 at that day," when no particular day has been mentioned. 
In a preceding chapter also he uses the same expression as applied 
to the period of Christ's return : 44 For I know," says he, " whom I 
have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which 
I have committed unto him against that day." 2 Tim. i. 12. la 
that chapter too he prays for Onesiphorus, whose bounty he had 
experienced, and whose countenance he had received, while in bonds 
for the name of Jesus. In the spirit of love and of gratitude, the 
apostle prays, 44 the Lord grant unto him, that he may find mercy 
of the Lord in that day." 2 Tim. i. 18. To the same period the 
apostle Peter refers, and probably more particularly to the First 
Resurrection, when he says, M we have also a more sure word of 
Prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light 
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-stat 
arise in your hearts." 2 Pet. i. 19. This can be no allusion to the> 
period of their conversion, as the epistle is only addressed to those 
who had already 44 obtained like precious faith" with him. But it 
is worthy of remark, how judiciously and appropriately these allu- 
sions to "that day" are made. Although, when understood, they 
have a pleasing effect; to many, such allusions would have been 
incomprehensible. But this, Paul must have known, could not be 
the case with him who 44 from a child had known the holy scriptures" 
of the Old Testament; (2 Tim, iii. 15.) and Peter addressed those 
who gave heed to that 44 sure word of Prophecy," from which his 
allusion was derived. 

Q 



186 



FIRST RESURRECTION. 



[Sect. XX. 



only, but unto all them also that love His appearing/' 
2 Tim. iv. 8. 

The same apostle, in reproving the church at Corinth for 
going to law before the unjust, and not deciding their own 
matters, asks, " Do ye not know that the saints shall 
judge the world V — to judge being used in the sense of 
governing. He adds, " Know ye not that we shall judge 
angels i" 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. The apostle John, contemplat- 
ing the honour reserved for believers, ascribes glory " unto 
Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His 
own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God, 
and his Father." Rev. i. 5, 6. And it was the song of 
the heavenly choristers who bow before the Lamb, on His 
opening the sealed book of Prophecy, " Thou art worthy 
to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou 
wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out 
of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and 
hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we 
shall reign on the earth/' Rev. v. 9, 10. This high 
privilege is bestowed upon all who maintain their allegi- 
ance and fidelity : " To him that overcometh" says our 
blessed Lord, " will I grant to sit with me in my throne, 
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in 
His throne/' Rev. iii. 21. That this honour is conferred 
upon them to be really exercised, is evident : " And he 
that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to 
him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule 
them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall 
they be broken to pieces; even as I received of my Father/' 
Rev. ii. 26, 27. This serves to illustrate the character of 
the armies of heaven who follow the Saviour when He 
comes for the destruction of the Antichristian nations. 
They are said (Rev. xix. 14) to be " clothed in fine linen, 
clean and white and this (inverse 8) is said to be "the 
righteousness of saints! 1 And again, speaking of those 
kings who fight against the Lamb, it is stated "these shall 
make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome 
them ; for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings ; and 
they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faith- 
fid:' Rev. xvii. 14. To him that overcometh " will I 
give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with 
a rod of iron/' This is assigned by the Psalmist as matter 



Sect. XXI.] ERECTION OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 187 



of especial praise to God : " Let the saints be joyful in 
glory ; let them sing aloud upon their beds ; let the high 
praises of God be in their mouth, and a sharp two-edged 
sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the hea- 
then, and punishment upon the people ; to bind their kings 
with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron ; to exe- 
cute upon them the judgment written; This honour is to 
all His saints. Praise ye the Lord." Ps. cxlix. 5 — 9. 

We cannot, in this state, form any adequate conception 
of the honour reserved for those " who shall be accounted 
worthy to obtain that age and the resurrection from amongst 
the dead/' as " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
have entered into the heart of man the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love Him." 1 Cor. ii. 9. "It 
doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that 
when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall 
see Him as He is." 1 John iii. 2. But as the honour of 
being kings and priests, in whatever it may consist, is the 
privilege of the redeemed, when we find these applied by 
the apostle J ohn to those who live and reign with Christ, 
we are surely entitled to believe, in accordance with the 
other Scriptures, that he refers to the literal resurrection 
of the just at the coming of the Lord. 



SECTION XXI. 

PERIOD OF THE ERECTION OF CHRIST'S GLORIOUS 

KINGDOM. 

The Scriptural nature of the doctrine of Christ's per- 
sonal reign on earth will be still more clearly seen on ex- 
amination of what is farther revealed concerning the time 
at which His Kingdom shall be established. The angelic 
messenger sent to announce to the blessed Virgin the con- 
ception of Jesus, declared, in unequivocal language, the 
erectionof His Kingdom and his possession of the throne of 
David; "And the Lord God shall give unto Him the 
throne of his father David, and He shall reign over the 
house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be 
no end." Luke i. 31—33. Christ has not yet taken 

Q2 



188 



PERIOD OP THE ERECTION 



[Sect. XXL 



possession of the throne of his father David, but as certainly 
as the predictions which announced his descent from him 
have been literally fulfilled, so surely may we rely on the 
fulfilment in due time of this and the numerous other 
prophecies of the future possession of his kingdom. In 
the day of his humiliation, Jesus avouched his title to al- 
legiance, although he came not then to obtain the crown. 
The throne of his father David yet remains unoccupied, and 
the house of Jacob still refuse him fealty. As King, how- 
ever, he rode into Jerusalem, amid the hosannahs of his 
poorest subjects, although he then refused the exercise of 
regal power. He laid claim to the throne, but he entered 
not into immediate possession. Thus, in Pilate's hall of 
judgment, while he avowed himself King, he declared that 
His Kingdom "is not of this world" — that it is not "now * 
from hence, (John xviii. 39,) leaving no room for doubt 
that at a future period it would be so. The time for estab- 
lishing His visible kingdom bad not yet arrived. "The times 
of the Gentiles '' must first be fulfilled, during which His 
kingdom was to be only spiritual. But when their period 
of probation shall terminate, then shall He Return " in the 
clouds of heaven with power and great glory," for the 
establishment of that kingdom of glory which shall be both 
spiritual and visible, and of which all the prophets have 
witnessed. Thus it is that the Saviour sometimes speaks 
of a kingdom already existing, and at other times of one 
yet to come. 

By the parable, Luke xix, 12, He intimates that at his 
ascension He should only go to receive the kingdom, thus 
directing the faith of his disciples to the time of his Return 
when he shall have " obtained the kingdom He went to 
receive/' He accordingly taught them to pray, " Thy 
kingdom come, 1 ' as of an event still future. It is not merely 
that the spiritual kingdom already established may be 
extended, and all nations be brought into it, but the erec- 
tion of one w T hich had not yet existed. — " Thy kingdom 
come " clearly implies its not having been hitherto erected, 
as to pray for the coming of what was already come would 
involve an inconsistency. And that this kingdom they are 
taught to desire is to be in this world, is evident from the 
succeeding clause of the sentence, " Thy will be done on 
earth as it is in heaven." The answer to this our prayer, so 



Sect. XXL] OF CHRIST^ GLORIOUS KINGDOM. 189 



often repeated without due consideration of its full import, 
has not yet been received, nor will be till the Millennium,* 
In the assembly at Jerusalem, when there had been 
much disputing about the necessity of circumcising believ- 
ing Gentiles, Peter and Paul and Barnabas attested the 
power of the grace of God among them as well as among 
the Jews; and the apostle James proved that this Gentile 
dispensation was predicted by the prophets, as to precede 
the restoration of the kingdom to Israel : " And after they 
had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and 
brethren, hearken unto me ; Simon hath declared how God 
at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a 
people for His name. And to this agree the words of the 
prophets ; as it is written, After this I will Return, and 
will build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen 
down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and / will 
set it up ; that the residue of men might seek after the 
Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, 
saith the Lord who doeth all these things." Acts xv. 13 — 
17. Before the restoration of Israel, and the re-occupa- 

* It may be observed, that in one instance, no sooner had the 
Saviour directed the attention of the unbelieving Pharisees to the 
spiritual kingdom, than he turns to the disciples and addresses 
them on His coming in glory : 44 And when he was demanded of the 
Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered 
them, and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation : 
Neither shall they say, Lo here ! or Lo there ! for behold the king- 
dom of God is within you, [ 4 among you,' — marg.] And he said 
unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see 
one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it. And 
they shall say to you, see here ! or see there ! go not after them 
nor follow them, For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one 
part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven, so 
shall also the Son of Man be in his Day." He adds, 44 But first 
must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation." 
Luke xvii. 20 — 25. This is the coming He afterwards announced, 
and the signs of which he foretold, (Mat. xxiv,) the very same lan- 
guage being here employed, as also in much of the remainder of the 
chapter. Consistency has therefore induced some commentators to 
place this also at the destruction of Jerusalem, although the Saviour 
here declares, that the day of which he is speaking, is one which 
the disciples should desire to see. They had, however, no desire to 
see the holy city,' (with which their most sacred feelings were asso- 
ciated,) laid in ashes, but they did earnestly" desire to see" the 
Son of Man come in his glory to 44 restore again the Kingdom to 
Israel." 

43 



190 



PERIOD OF THE ERECTION 



[Sect. XXI. 



tion of David's throne, which has so long been vacant. God 
has first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people 
for His name ; after which He will return. As our Lord 
himself said to the Jews, " Other sheep 1 have which are 
not of this fold ; them also must I bring, and they shall 
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one Shep- 
herd." John x. 16. And after He shall have taken out of 
the Gentiles a people for His name, He " will return, and 
build again the tabernacle of David," which was then fal- 
len down, and which must continue so till the times of the 
Gentiles be fulfilled. The delightful promise the apostle 
quotes (although not literally,) from the prophet Amos, 
by whom it is announced to be fulfilled in " that day," the 
form of expression so often used by the Old Testament pro- 
phets in reference to the Millennium : " In that clay will f 
raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close 
up the breaches therof ; and I will raise up his ruins, and 
I will build it as in the days of old. . . .and I will bring 
again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall 
build the waste cities, and inhabit them ; and they shall 
plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall 
also make gardens and eat the fruit of them. And I will 
plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be 
pulled up out of their land, which I have given them, saith 
the Lord thy God." Anaos ix. 11 — 15. Here, then, we 
find that the tabernacle of David is to be raised at the 
period of Israel's restoration; and the apostle James in- 
forms us that this will take place at our Lord's "Return ;" 
thus, not only connecting the re-erection of the throne of 
David with the coming of Christ, but intimating the con- 
nection of both with the existence of the Kingdom during 
the Millennium, when " the Lord God shall give unto Him 
the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over 
the house of Jacob for ever." Luke i. 32, 33. 

The establishment of the Millennial kingdom, and the 
coming of the Son of Man at that period, are also declared 
in the prophecies of Daniel. The seventh chapter contains, 
as we have seen in speaking of the destruction of Antichrist, 
a prediction of four great empires which should exist from 
the beginning of the captivity till the Millennium. From 
three of these, viz. the Babylonish, the Persian, and the 
Grecian, the extensive dominion has long since passed 



Sect. XXL] OP CHRIST* S GLORIOUS KINGDOM. 191 



away ; and as it was predicted of the fourth or Roman em- 
pire, that " the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings 
that shall arise/' so was it divided into ten kingdoms, form- 
ing the present European dynasties, in which state it has 
continued many centuries. The rise of Antichrist was pre- 
dicted, as a little horn growing up among these horns or 
kingdoms ; on account of whose blasphemies, thrones of 
judgment for his destruction are represented as being at 
length set by the Ancient of Days. At this time, the pro- 
phet says, " I saw, in the night visions, and behold one like 
the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came 
to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before 
Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and 
A kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should 
serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which 
shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that which shall 
not be destroyed." Dan. vii. 7 — 14. This Kingdom, then, 
is to be received only at the destruction of Antichrist and 
the other horns or kingdoms which arose out of the Roman 
empire. It is not merely the extension, at that time, of 
the spiritual kingdom at present in existence. But when 
the Son of Man shall come in the clouds of heaven, the 
kingdom spoken of is only then to be " given to Him." 
It is then " the saints of the Most High shall take the 
kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever 
and ever." ver. 18. And as the four preceding monarchies 
have had their dominion upon the earth, so it is added, in 
the 27th verse, " And the kingdom, and dominion, and the 
greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven^ shall 
be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, 
whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions 
shall serve and obey Him." Can there be a doubt that 
this coming with the clouds of heaven, so magnificently de- 
scribed, is the same with that predicted by our Lord Him- 
self, Luke xxi. 17, when the times of the Gentiles are 
fulfilled ? As if indeed to enable us to identify the Saviour's 
allusion to this prediction, the promise of His return is re- 
corded in language strikingly similar. x\nd as the prophet 
saw Him receive " dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom ;" 
so the Saviour, directing our attention to the signs of His 
coming, says, " when ye see these things come to pass, 
Know ye that the kingdom of god is nigh at hand!' 



]92 PERIOD OF THE ERECTION [SECT. XXI. 



Luke xxi. 31. The time, also, at which the Saviour is 
seer>, in the vision of the prophet, coming to receive His 
Kingdom, being just at the destruction of Antichrist, corre- 
sponds with the prediction of Paul, that this power is to 
be destroyed by the brightness, or glorious appearance, of 
Christ's coming. In the above passage from Luke, our 
Lord Himself connects, farther, the establishment of His 
kingdom with His return, and Paul also in one of his 
epistles does the same : Urging upon Timothy the duty 
of preaching the word, the apostle charges him " before 
God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick 
and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom/' (2 
Tim. iv. 1,) — thus making the establishment of His king- 
dom coincident with His appearing. 

The establishment of the Kingdom is again predicted by 
Daniel, (ii. 31 — 43,) in his interpretation of Nebuchad- 
nezzar's dream. The same four monarchies are represented 
as the various parts of one great image, the Roman empire 
forming the legs and feet, and its subdivision into the pre- 
sent European kingdoms being here witnessed in the ten 
toes. The character of this kingdom in its divided state is 
noticed : " And as the toes of the feet were part of iron 
and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, 
and partly broken ; and whereas thou sawest iron mixed 
with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed 
of men, [by royal intermarriages,] but they shall not cleave 
one to another, even as iron is not mingled with clay." 
The erection of the Kingdom of Christ is then foretold : 
"And, in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven 
SET up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and 
the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall 
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it 
shall stand for ever." Dan. ii. 42, 44. Here, again, it is 
to be observed, that the prediction is not of the enlargement 
of a kingdom already established, but the erection, or set- 
ting up, of one not before in existence. In the days of 
these kings it shall be "set up" by the God of heaven. 
As in the vision of the four beasts, the prophet saw one 
like the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, so 
here he says, " Thou sawest, till that a, stone was cut out 
without hands, [a Scriptural expression for what is super- 
natural or divine, Col. ii. 11,] which smote the image upon 



Sect. XXI.] 



of Christ's glorious kingdom 



193 



bis feet, that were of iron, and clay, and brake them to 
pieces; then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, 
and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like 
the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, and the wind 
carried them away that no place was found for them, and 
the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, 
and filled the whole earth." ver. 34, 35. The power has 
now descended through all the parts of the image to the 
ten toes, in which divided state the Roman empire still 
continues to exist. But the whole shall be broken to 
pieces when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven for 
the establishment of that Kingdom which " shall not ba 
left to other people/' 

When the seventh apocalyptic angel sounded, " There 
were," says the apostle, " great voices in heaven, saying, 
The kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdom of 
our Lord and of His Christ ; and He shall reign for ever 
and ever." Rev. xi. 15. The redeemed anticipate with 
delight the approach of this glorious era, and the downfal 
of Babylon is announced by the heavenly shout of triumph : 
" And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, 
and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty 
thunderings, saying, Alleluia! the Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth!' Rev. xix. 6. 

In a passage already cited, the Saviour not only promised 
His apostles a kingdom, but that they should also eat and 
drink at His table: "T appoint unto you a kingdom, as 
my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and 
drink at my table, in my Kingdom, and sit on thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Luke xxii. 29, 30. 
It does not, however, comport with the ideas generally 
entertained of heaven, that sensible enjoyments should be 
there received. This promise of the Saviour given to the 
disciples at the institution of the sacrament of the Supper, 
is farther confirmed and illustrated when He says, " I will 
not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of 
God shall come!' Luke xxii. 18. It is still more fully 
expressed by another evangelist : " Verily, I say unto 
you, I will drink no ?nore of the fruit of the vine, until 
that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God/' 
Mark xiv. 25. That it was really the fruit of the vine of 



194 NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH. [Sect. XXII. 

which the Saviour spoke is evident. He had just given 
unto the disciples the cup containing wine, desiring them 
to drink of it: "But I say unto you, 1 will not drink 
henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I 
drink it new with you in my Father s kingdom/' Mat. 
xxvi. 29. That he referred to the Millennial kingdom 
appears still more obvious when we consider, that, although 
our Lord went to heaven long before any of His apostles, 
yet he assured them that He should not drink of this fruit 
of the vine, " until that day when I drink it new with you 
in my Father's kingdom." And why should it be thought 
incredible that Christ will eat and drink in His millennial 
kingdom ? After his resurrection, He condescended to eat 
both fish and honey-comb to convince His disciples that 
His presence was corporeal. Luke xxiv. 21 — 23. Having 
caused several of his disciples miraculously to obtain a 
draught of fishes, He invited them to dine, and partook of 
their bread and fish. John xxi, 11 — 14. It was in the 
breaking of bread He was made known to the disciples 
who journeyed to Emmaus. Luke xxiv. 13 — 35. And 
Peter mentioned to Cornelius and his company, the fact 
that He did eat and drink with his disciples, as evidence 
of the reality of His resurrection. Acts x. 41. What rea- 
son is there then to doubt the truth or the meaning of His 
promise to the disciples, that they shall sit on thrones 
judging the tribes of Israel, and that they shall eat and 
drink with Him in the kingdom of God ? 



SECTIOx\ T XXII. 
NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH. 

To prepare for that wonderful display of love when 
God shall condescend to dwell with men, the material 
world is destined to undergo a purification, which shall be 
effected w T hen His enemies are destroyed at his coming. 
When, during that happy time, men shall yield cordial 
submission to their Saviour and sovereign Lord, the curse 
of barrenness, pronounced at first upon the earth for their 
disobedience, will be removed ; and, as predicted by all 



Sect. XXII.] NEW HEAVEN'S AND NEW EARTH. 195 



the prophets, the greatest fertility will be enjoyed in its 
renovated state. Then, also, the atmospheric heavens, the 
present region of clouds and storms, will be destroyed, and 
new heavens, more genial, will supply their place. "The 
prince of the power of the air" will then be dislodged, and 
bound in the bottomless pit, and universal happiness be 
diffused over the face of the globe — a happiness attendant 
on holiness, when "the Lord shall wipe away tears from 
off all faces, and the rebuke of his' people shall He take 
away from off all the earth." Is. xxv. 8. In the same 
psalm, which predicts that "w T hen the Lord shall build up 
Zion, He shall appear in his glory," praise is ascribed to 
God on account of this change of the heavens and the 
earth : "Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; 
and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall 
perish, but thou shalt endure ; yea all of them shall wax 
old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, 
and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy 
years shall have no end. The children of thy servants 
shall continue, and their seed shall be established before 
thee." Ps. cii. 25—28. The change of the heavens is 
again predicted by the prophet Isaiah at the period when 
"the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His 
fury upon all their armies" before the Millennium : "And 
all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heave?2s 
shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host 
shall fall down, as the leaf falleth from off the vine, and 
as a falling fig from the fig-tree." Is. xxxiv. 2, 4. Re- 
ferring to the same period, the prophet Jeremiah says, "1 
beheld the earth, and lo ! it was without form and void ; 
and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the 
mountains, and lo ! they trembled, and all the hills moved 
lightly. I beheld, and lo ! there was no man, and all the 
birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and lo ! the 
fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof 
were broken down at the presence of the Lord, by His 
fierce anger." Jer. iv. 23 — 26. The change of the heavens 
is again predicted by Isaiah as to take place at the restora- 
tion of Israel : " For the Lord shall comfort Zion ; He 
will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her 
wilderness like Eden ; and her desert like the garden of 
the Lord ; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanks- 



196 NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH. [Sect. XXII. 



giving and the voice of melody. .Lift up your eyes to 
the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath ; for the 
heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall 
wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall 
die in like manner; but my salvation shall be for ever and 
my righteousness shall not be abolished. 7 ' Is. li. 3 — 6. 
God's protection to Israel at this appalling time seems pro- 
mised in the sixteenth verse : " And I have put my words 
in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of 
mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the 
foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my 
people." 

But, great and important as these changes will be, the 
identity of the earth will remain the same, and its localities 
be still distinguishable. Jerusalem, it is repeatedly pro- 
mised, shall occupy her former site, being builded " upon 
her own heap f and, in the following prediction of new 
heavens and a new earth, Israel is called to rejoice in that 
city during the Millennium : " Behold I create new 
heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be 
remembered nor brought into mind. But be ye glad and 
rejoice for ever in that which I create; for, behold, I 
create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy, and I 
will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people ; and the 
voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the 
voice of crying." Is. Ixv. 17 — 19. To these Isaiah again 
refers in the conclusion of his prophecy in connection with 
the restoration and honour of Israel : And I will also 
take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord. 
For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will 
make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your 
seed and your name remain." To this great change the 
apostle Peter directs the attention of Christians in his second 
general epistle. He stirs up the pure minds of believers 
that they should "be mindful of the words which were 
spoken before by the holy prophets" and apostles, and 
warns them of a heresy which should arise : "Knowing this 
first," says he, " that there shall come in the last days scof- 
fers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where 
is the promise of His Coming ? for since the fathers fell 
asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning 
of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, 



Sect. XXII.] NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH. 



197 



that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and 
the earth standing out of the water and in the water, 
whereby the world that then was being overflowed with 
water perished. But the heavens and the earth which are 
7iow by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto 
fire against the day of judgment * and perdition of ungodly 
men." 2 Pet. iii. 3 — 8. As at the flood, the heavens and 
the earth are said to have 'perished, so are they destined 
to undergo another change, not by water but by fire at the 
coming of the Lord. However scoffers may delude them- 

* In a former page, (185,) we have shown that "day" is, in Scrip- 
ture, often applied to an indefinite period of time, and that it is thus 
used to designate the Millennial age. It may be proper also to 
notice, that "judgment" and "to judge" are not confined to the 
award of happiness or misery, but are frequently used in the sense 
of government and to govern during that dispensation. "Behold 
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a right- 
eous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute 
judgment and justice in the earth." Jer. xxiii. 5. "And many na- 
tions shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain 
of the Lord, and to the House of the God of Jacob; and He will 
teach us of His ways and we will walk in his paths ; for the law 
shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 
And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations 
afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and 
their spears into pruning-hooks." Micah iv. 2, 3. " And He shall 
not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hear- 
ing of his ears ; but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and 
reprove with equity for the meek of the earth." Is. xi. 3, 4. 
" Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness. . . .and my people 
shall dwell in a peaceable habitation." Is. xxxii. 16—18. " Hear- 
ken unto me, my people ; and give ear unto me, Omy nation ; for a 
law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest 
for a light of the people "Is. li. 4. So also when the Psalmist celebrates 
the ''marvellous things" to be performed by the Lord when " He hath 
remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel," he 
calls on all the earth to " be joyful together before the Lord ; for He 
cometh to judge the earth." Ps. xcviii. 1 — 9. This "judgment" or 
government, is also given to the saints during the Millennium, which 
may therefore with perfect propriety be called " the day of judg- 
ment:" "And I saw thrones" says the apostle John, " and they 
sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." Rev. xx. 4. In 
this sense it is frequently used in the Scriptures, as when we are in- 
formed of those who "judged Israel." When this people demanded 
a king j their request was, " Make us a King to judge us." 1 Sam. 
viii. 5. — In all of these instances it is obvious^that the word judgment 
is used in the sense of rule or government. Peter's use of the ex- 
pression "day of judgment," may therefore be regarded as another 
instance of allusion to the Millennial Day, 



198 



NEW HEAVEN'S AND NEW EARTH. 



[Sect. XXII, 



selves with respect to the Saviour's Return, and although 
they may perceive no symptons of its near approach, yet 
as surely as the threateuings upon the antediluvian world 
were executed in their destruction, as certainly will an un- 
godly and unbelieving world be overtaken by the storm of 
divine indignation, " when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed 
from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming tire, taking 
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not 
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," While men are de- 
ceiving themselves with appearances, and, in defiance of 
previous example, suppose that the promises and threat- 
enings of God will not be fulfilled, they shall suddenly be 
overtaken by the storm of divine wrath. And as at the 
flood the heavens and the earth 'perished by undergoing 
an important change, so are they now reserved for another 
change, in preparation for the residence of the Redeemer 
and the comfort of men. But while the apostle reminds 
believers of these glorious predictions of the holy prophets, 
he also foretells that little attention or credit will be given 
to them. The mercy and the long-suffering of God, that 
sinners may come to repentance, being imputed to His un- 
willingness or inability to accomplish these glorious pro- 
mises, the world will be taken by surprise when the period 
of their fulfilment shall arrive. " The day of the Lord/'* 
says the apostle, " will come as a thief in the night, in the 
which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, 
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth 
also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up. 
Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what 
manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation 
and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of 
the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall 
be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new 
heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." 
2 Pet. iii. 10 — 13. It has been supposed that the apostle 

* Allusion is frequently made in the New Testament to the day 
of the Lord, The Old Testament prophets have also many predic- 
tions concerning the various periods of this eventful " day." The 
following passages among others may be consulted. Is. ii. 12. xiii. 
6, 9. xxxiv. 8. Jer. xlvi. 10. Ezek. xxx. 2, 3. Joel i. 15. ii. 1. 
iii. 14. Obad. verses 15, 17. Zeph. i. 7? 14. ii. 2, 3. Zech. xiv. 1. 



Sect. XXII.] NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH. 



199 



here predicts the utter destruction. of the material world at 
the coming of Christ. But, strong as the language is, it 
does not warrant this opinion. The atmospheric heavens 
shall be dissolved, and their elements shall melt with fer- 
vent heat, yet the perishing of the earth in this instance 
by fire is put in contrast with the destruction occasioned by 
the waters of the flood. This, while it overwhelmed the 
guilty inhabitants and destroyed their works, still left the 
substance of the earth the same, although marred by the 
disruptions it occasioned. However great the changes thus 
made upon its surface, to this the effects of the flood were 
principally confined. 

Still there is much difficulty — equally experienced by 
millenarian and antimillenarian commentators, — in giving 
a view of this passage consistent with itself and other scrip- 
tures, The extent of the judgments and the nature of the 
dispensations predicted by the holy prophets, of which the 
apostle reminds them, deserve serious consideration ; still 
the " promise " of new heavens and a new earth, recorded 
by Isaiah, to which the apostle refers, is, as we have seen, 
to have its fulfilment at the Millennium,* when the Lord 

* Dr. Hamilton's confused ideas of the new heavens and new earth 
have been so ably exposed in the letter addressed to himself in 44 De- 
fence of the Students of Prophecy," as to render unnecessary any 
lengthened remarks. Still, we may remind him, that the term new 
is applied in the above prediction of Isaiah to the earth in its Mil- 
lennial state. When, therefore, he asserts, (p. 278,) that the sacred 
writers 44 have told us, as distinctly as language can express it, that 
the future habitation of the redeemed is to be a new, that is, another 
heaven and another earth, with which the present earth and heaven 
have no connection, and of which they shall form no part," he only 
affirms what he ought to prove. The Doctor believes in a coming 
Millennium, and even quotes part of the above passage from Isaiah 
to prove its nature. But has not the Lord, by the prophet, in it 
44 told us, as distinctly as language can express it," that then He will 
"create new heavens and a new earth" ? And as the apostle ex- 
pected these new heavens and earth of which he speaks, according 
to God's 44 promise," and as the only promise contained in the Old 
Testament Scriptures, of new heavens and a new earth, is that by 
Isaiah, it must be to this that he alludes. Yet the Doctor himself 
will not maintain that this promise is to be fulfilled by the creation 
of 44 another heaven and another earth, with which the present earth 
and heaven have no connection, and of which they shall form no part ." 
Nor will he assert that 44 the heavens" which 44 were of old, and the 
earth standing out of the water, and in the water" before the flood, 
had no connection with, and formed no part of 44 the heavens and the 
earth which are now," with which the apostle contrasts them. 

r2 



200 NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH. [Sect. XXII. 



shall "create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy." 
But were the difficulty even greater in human estimation 
than it is, faith can confidently trust for the fulfilment of 
God's promise thus explicitly given. Jehovah sometimes 
manifests His glory by putting the faith of his chosen people 
to the test in their reception of his promises. To evidence 
his own power, and to try the faith of the children of Israel, 
on their leaving Egypt the Lord caused Moses lead them off 
the proper route, and to encamp by the sea. In this situation, 
while entangled by the wilderness, and seeming to have no 
choice left, but either to perish in the yawning deep or 
await a no less certain destruction by the hand of their 
infuriated pursuers, they cried to Heaven for help. But 
the Lord said unto Moses, " Wherefore criest thou unto me ? 
Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward. " 
This was indeed a trial of their faith. Speak unto them 
that they go forward, while the rolling billows seemed to 
threaten certain and immediate destruction ! But, " by 
faith, they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, 
which the Egyptians essaying to do were drowned/' To 
the primitive disciples the injunction of our Saviour relative 
to their escape from Jerusalem must have appeared no less 
mysterious : " And when ye shall see Jerusalem com- 
passed ivith armies, then know that the desolation thereof 
is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the 
mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it de- 
part out ; and let not them that are in the countries enter 
thereinto, for these be the days of vengeance that all things 
which are written may be fulfilled." Luke xxi. 21, 22. 
To the disciples it must have appeared a singular advice, 
that they should make their escape when they saw Jeru- 
salem compassed with armies, rather than at an earlier 
period. Without faith in the veracity and faithfulness of 
Him the display of whose omniscience they had often 
witnessed, and in whose wisdom and goodness they could 
fully confide, they might have questioned the meaning of 
the injunction, and refused to avail themselves of the pro- 
mised deliverance. But the event not only justified the 
trust they reposed, but afforded a glorious display of the 
Saviour s divinity. The full import of the distinct promise 
of new heavens and a new earth, as recorded by Isaiah, 
and referred to by Peter, we may not be able to perceive > 



Sect. XXIII.] THE NEW JERUSALEM. 



201 



but that they form a blessed preparative, for the Millennial 
glory, we cannot doubt. That this world will during that 
dispensation still be the abode of men in the flesh is expressly 
foretold. And although it will be a period of unprece- 
dented holiness and happiness, neither sin nor death will 
be wholly excluded : " the child shall die an hundred years 
old, and the sinner being an hundred years shall be ac- 
cursed" 



SECTION XXIII. 
THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

Of the employments of the redeemed while reigning with 
Christ on earth, and of the nature of their intercourse with 
mortal men, the Scriptures afford us little information, 
Repeated allusions are, however, made to the place of their 
residence. Of this the apostle John was specially favour- 
ed with a glorious vision, the account of which is recorded 
Rev. xxi. xxii. As the New Jerusalem is to be on the 
new earth, and under the new heavens, that part of the 
vision which relates to it is introduced to the apostle by a 
view of them : " And I saw/' says he, (Rev. xxi. 1.) " And 
I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven 
and the first earth were passed away : and there was no 
more [symbolical] sea. And I John saw the holy city, New 
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, 'pre- 
pared as a bride adorned for her husband." This celestial 
city is designed as the residence of Christ and the redeemed, 
and comes down out of heaven, where it is previously " pre- 
pared" for this purpose. " And I heard," continues the 
apostle, " a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the 
Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with 
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall 
he with them, and be their God." ver. 3. This, we ap- 
prehend, is that second city seen in vision by Ezekiel in the 
Holy Oblation offered to the Lord in the new division of 
the Holy Land, He calls it u the most holy place" and 
more frequently " The City." There are many coinci- 
dences in the account given of it by John with that given by 
Ezekiel. Of the names of its gates the prophet says, " and 

r3 



202 



THE NEW JERUSALEM. [Sect. XXIII. 



the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes 
of Israel" and lie particularizes the respective situations of 
the different gates by name. (Ezek. xlviii. 31 — 34.) The 
New Jerusalem as seen by the apostle has also twelve gates, 
" and names written thereon, which are the names of the 
twelve tribes of the children of Israel." (Rev. xxi. 12.) 
The arrangement of these gates is also precisely the same 
with that given by Ezekiel : "on the east, 3 gates ; on 
the north, 3 gates ; on the south, 3 gates ; and on the west, 
3 gates.'' ver. 13. This City has an attendance enjoyed 
by no other; for " they that serve the City shall serve it 
out of all the tribes of Israel;" and a portion of the Holy 
Oblation is allotted for their maintenance. Ezek. xlviii. 18, 
19. Of the new river, to which we formerly referred, 
(p. 94,) Ezekiel says, "upon the bank thereof, on this side 
and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf 
shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed ; 
it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, be- 
cause their waters they issued from the Sanctuary ; And 
the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for 
medicine." Ezek. xlvii. 12. So John also narrates of the 
New Jerusalem, that "in the midst of the street of it, and 
on either side of the river was there the tree of life [not one 
tree, merely, since it grew on ' either side of the river/ but 
trees of one species'] which bare twelve manner of fruits, 
and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the 
tree were for the healing of the nations.'' Rev. xxii. 2. 
How striking is the coincidence ! That the apostle might 
have a full view of the glorious City, there came unto him 
an angel who carried him away " in the spirit to a great 
and high mountain, and showed" him " that great city the 
holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, hav- 
ing the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone 
most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and 
had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates." ver. 
10 — 12. A similar coincidence exists in their different 
accounts of the measurements of the City they severally 
describe. In all the works we have seen which treat on 
this point a great discrepancy is indeed supposed to exist 
between the statement of the prophet and that of the apostle. 
But this mistake has arisen from an oversight of the fact, 
that while the one states the circumference, the other informs 



Sect. XXIII.] 



THE NEW JERUSALEM. 



203 



us of the square measurement. Ezekiel says, " It was, 
round about, eighteen thousand measures" of the angel's 
reed, which was "six great cubits" long, of 22 inches each. 
Being a square, each " side" was " four thousand and five 
hundred measures" of the reed. Ezek. xlviii. 32. But 
John does not specify its length or breadth, but having 
mentioned that it is square, he gives the measurement ac- 
cordingly : " And the City lyeth four-square, and the 
length is as large as the breadth. And he [the angel] 
measured the City with the reed, twelve thousand fur- 
longs. The length, and the breadth, and the height of it 
are equal." Rev. xxi. 16, 17. It was not the length, or 
breadth, or height which the angel measured. These he 
declares to be " equal," but the " twelve thousand furlongs" 
is not the dimensions of each or any of its sides, as is com- 
monly supposed, but of " the City 1 ' — "four square." Con- 
sidering this, therefore, as neither the length nor the breadth, 
but as the measurement of the area of the City, and reckon- 
ing by the Jewish furlong of 266| cubits, as stated by Maim- 
onides, on extracting the square of the measurement of the 
circumference of the City given by Ezekiel, we obtain a 
view by which the statements of the prophet and apostle 
are found to correspond very nearly, — and which would 
probably correspond exactly if Maimonides' standard were 
perfectly accurate, thus confirming the view of their identity. 
This glorious City shall be inhabited by the saints of God. 
" He that overcometh shall inherit these things, \inarg?^ 
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." ver. 7 ; 
and all are excluded whose names are not written in the 
Lamb's book of life. To this Tabernacle, as distinct from 
the Sanctuary, Ezekiel appears to refer in a preceding 
chapter : " My servant The Beloved shall be their prince 
for ever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with 
them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and 
will place them and multiply them, and will set my Sane- 
tuary in the midst of them for evermore. My Tabernacle 
also shall be with them; yea I will be their God and 
they shall be my people." Ezek. xxxvii. 25 — 27. To this 
City the apostle Peter appears to refer as the " inheritance" 
of the saints " reserved in heaven" till the period when it 
shall be revealed: " Blessed be the God and Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant 



204 



THE NEW JERUSALEM. [Sect. XXIII. 



mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inherit- 
ance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 
reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of 
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in 
the last time!' 1 Pet, i. 4. And it is the promise of the 
Saviour to him that overcometh, " I will write upon him 
the name of my God, and the name of the City of my God, 
which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of hea- 
ven from my God." Rev. hi. 12. Of this city, it is said, 
" and the nations of them that are saved [from the destruc- 
tion which shall overtake the ungodly at the coming of the 
Lord] shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the 
earth do bring their glory and honour into it. . . .and they 
shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it." 
Rev. xxi. 24—26. 

" Behold the measure of the promise fill'd; 
See Salem built, the labour of a God! 
Bright as a sun the sacred city shines; 
All kingdoms and all princes of the earth 
Flock to that light; the glory of all lands 
Flows into her ; unbounded is her joy, 
And endless her increase." 

Cowper's Task. 

Much confusion has resulted from applying to the inhab- 
itants of the new earth the character of the citizens of 
the New Jerusalem which descends out of heaven unto it. 
The distinction is obvious. While, in the new earth, Isaiah 
predicts there shall be both sin and death, the apostle John 
declares the exclusion of both from the holy city. From 
the account of the descent of the New Jerusalem being 
placed in John's vision after that of the final resurrection 
and general judgment, it has been supposed by some to be 
the place of blessedness after the Millennium. But the 
order of insertion is of itself no criterion of the order of time. 
When the apostle has carried forward his narrative of one 
class of events he returns to take up another, or to explain 
particular parts which would have occupied too much space 
in the narrative itself. The whole book is constructed on 
this principle; and thus, long after the announcement of 
the kingdoms of this world having become the kingdoms of 
our Lord and of his Christ, we have again brought before 



Sect. XXIV.] APOSTASY, GENERAL RESURRECTION, &c. 205 



us the existence and success of Antichrist. But, in all such 
cases, a key is given for the elucidation of the prophecy, 
and for determining the relative periods of the several parts. 
In the case before us, the New Jerusalem descends to the 
new earth, and this is connected with the Millennium by 
the prediction of the prophet Isaiah. Its relation to time 
and the things of time is farther evident from the fact, that 
" the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour 
into it;" it must therefore have a reference to this world, while 
the relation subsists between kings and their subjects.* 



SECTION XXIV. 

FUTURE APOSTASY, GENERAL RESURRECTION, AND 
FINAL JUDGMENT. 

Glorious and holy as the Millennial age will be, if is 
to be succeeded by a short space during which Satan being 
loosed from his confinement, he shall again seduce men 
from the allegiance they owe to their Divine King: "And 
when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed 
out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations 
which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, 
to gather them together to battle ; the number of whom 
is as the sand of the sea. And they w T ent up on the breadth 
of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about 
and the beloved city," (the New Jerusalem, we presume.) 
Rev. xx. 7 — 9. We have already shown, that, during 

* Mr. Mason, in his volume on the Gentiles' Fulness, &c. (p. 169 
and 188,) applies this vision to " the blessedness of the righteous" 
after the general resurrection, " the heavenly glory and blessedness 
of the saints." But we observe with pleasure, that, since the pub- 
lication of that work, he has obtained more correct views on this 
subject. In a more recent publication, (Sermon on the Seventh 
Vial, on the words, " It is done," Rev. xxi. 6,) he says, "stand- 
ing as they do in connexion with God's work of making all things 
new, [they] must relate to the blessed alterations which He will 
establish on the earth, after the judgments predicted in the vials are 
finished." p. 4. 

Dr. Wardlaw also quotes the 3d verse as applicable to Millennial 
times, and gives it as one of the " passages of which the application 
is hardly questioned." p. 478. 



206 APOSTASY, GENERAL RESURRECTION, [Sect. XXIV. 



the Millennium, the nations are required to go up to Jeru- 
salem to worship the Lord. It has been supposed that 
neglect of this privilege and breach of the law may be 
the commencement of this defection and ultimate apostasy, 
which terminates in their utter overthrow in the impious 
attempt upon the camp of the saints and the beloved city. 
This opinion has been founded on what is said of the 
punishment of those who refuse to go up to worship at 
Jerusalem, and the pointed reference to Egypt by name : 
" And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the 
families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King 
the Lord of hosts even upon them shall be no rain. And 
if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, that have 
[ordinarily] no rain; there shall be the plague wherewith 
the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep 
the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of 
Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not 
up to keep the feast of tabernacles." Zech. xiv. 17 — 19. 
Besides the ordinary blessings of Providence, the special 
communications of the Holy Spirit may be vouchsafed for 
compliance with the divine law, while they may be with- 
held from those nations which undervalue the privilege and 
neglect compliance with the injunction ; and when Satan 
is again loosed from his prison, how soon may that Wicked 
Spirit succeed in stirring up men to the most impious en- 
terprize! In this he will have a short-lived triumph in 
the delusion of men, whose holiness and happines during 
the Millennium shall have increased the misery of his 
confinement. That he should succeed in seducing them 
from their allegiance to the Divine Redeemer and Glorious 
King, after such a display of His love and condescension, 
affords melancholy proof not only of the power of the Evil 
One, but also of the mighty malice by which he is actu- 
ated. But when we reflect on the guilt and audacity 
which first hurled him from glory, his subsequent hatred 
to God, and the enmity and cunning which have since 
characterized his dealings with our race, our wonder is 
diminished at the success of his designs in deluding guilty 
men and inducing them to act the infatuated part here 
ascribed unto them. The guilt of their apostasy is certainly 
not more atrocious than was that of the fall of holy Adam. 



Sect. XXIV.] 



AND FINAL JUDGMENT. 



207 



It is not more mysterious than was the fall of holy angels. 
Nor will they have more reason to triumph in the result of 
their daringness. Whatever be its origin, and however it may 
be conducted, the attempt receives an immediate and 
signal punishment : " and tire came down from God out 
of heaven and devoured them, and the devil that deceived 
them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where 
the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented 
day and night, for ever and ever." * Rev. xx, 10. 

The overthrow of this apostasy is followed by the gen- 
eral resurrection. All who have died during the Millen- 
nium, and the rest of the dead who had previously died, 
and who " lived not again until the thousand years were 
finished/' will then be raised to eternal glory or unending 
misery. We may remark, however, that there is not the 
slightest intimation of Christ's coming at this time, as some 
would insinuate. " And I saw a great white throne, and 
Him that sat on it," continues the apostle, " from whose 
face the earth and the heaven fled away ; and there was no 
place found for them. And 1 saw the dead small and 
great stand before God : and the books were opened ; and 
another book was opened, which is the book of life ; and 
the dead were judged out of those things which were 
written in the books according to their works. And the 
sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and death and 
hell delivered up the dead which were in them ; and they 
were judged, every man according to their works. And 
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the 
second death. And whosoever was not found written in 
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." ver. 11—15, 
There is no exception of any then in their graves from 
this resurrection. The receptacles of death yield all their 
tenants to receive their doom — those whose names are 
found in the book of life being raised to glory, and the 

* Mr. Mason, the Examinator in the Instructor, and Dr. Hamil- 
ton, all consider the fact of such an apostasy taking place a strong 
objection to the Doctrine of Christ's personal reign on earth. It is 
by the rejection of mysteries that some have set aside the most valu- 
able doctrines of revelation. But we trust that these authors 
have not so learned Christ as to deny any of His plainly revealed 
truths, however mysterious. 



208 APOSTASY, GENERAL RESURRECTION, [Sect. XXIV. 



wicked to the condemnation of the second death, being cast 
into the lake of fire.* 

This, then, terminates what the Scriptures reveal con- 
cerning our relation to the earth. In our inquiries we 
cannot go beyond this, for " then cometh the end, when" 
Christ " shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even 
the Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all 
authority and power. For He must reign till he hath put 
all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be 
destroyed is death. For He hath put all things under His 
feet. But when He saith, all things are put under Him, it 

* Dr. Hamilton labours to prove from this passage, that, as the 
language is of a general nature, there cannot have been a resurrec- 
tion at the commencement of the thousand years. Dr. Wardlaw 
also (p. 510.) refers to it in proof of a simultaneous "resurrection of 
all the dead without distinction. True, it is a "resurrection of all 
the dead;" but it is only "the dead, small and great," who are 
now raised and judged, which does not include those who lived in 
the First Resurrection a thousand years before. The language 
therefore is general only of the dead, among whom those already 
raised to life will not be found. But Dr. H. is not contentwith in- 
cluding in this last resurrection those whom the apostle had already- 
seen live and reign with Christ, but also makes it embrace all who 
have preceded them in the resurrection of life. No matter that we 
are informed by the evangelist that many bodies of the saints which 
slept arose, and came out of their graves after Christ's resurrection, 
the Doctor (p. 207) discovers from the language of the apostle that 
44 it seems inevitably to follow that this is the resurrection of the 
whole human race; that till then there will be wo resurrection of 
the dead, but then the whole collective body of mankind without one 
exception shall be vaised from the dead." This sentiment is reit- 
erated in the same page where he says, 44 we are here assured that 
not only all the dead shall then stand before God, and be judged ac- 
cording to their works ; but that they shall be judged, 6 every man 
according to their works,' " From this he concludes, that, if there be 
a resurrection prior to the Millennium, those who share in it 44 are 
neither judged at all nor receive according to 'their works." Here, 
again, the Doctor confounds the obvious distinction between those who 
havepreviously been raised and those who shall be dead at this gener- 
al resurrection. It is only every man of the dead, small and great, who 
shall then be judged, among whom will not be found any who had 
been raised before. If all who are not raised in this resurrection 
"are neither judged at all nor receive according to their works," 
then it follows that not only those who share in the First Resurrec- 
tion, and the 44 many " who were raised after Christ's resurrection, 
but also that Elijah who was carried to heaven amid the horsemen 
and chariots of the Lord, and Enoch who 44 was not, for God took 
him," cannot have received according to their works. Such is the 
legitimate conclusion from the principle assumed. 



Sect. XXIV.] 



AND FINAL JUDGMENT. 



209 



is manifest that He is excepted which did put all things 
under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto 
Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him 
that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." 
1 Cor. xv. 24 — 28. In what this delivering up of the 
kingdom consists, we pretend not to know. This is all the 
information God has seen meet to communicate on the sub- 
ject, and while it is our duty to know what God has re- 
vealed, we must not presume to be wise above what is 
written. In whatever it consists, the believer's happiness 
can never be diminished. The love of Jehovah is eternal, 
and His saints are made heirs of God and joint-heirs with 
Christ. But this kingdom is limited to the duration of mor- 
tality, and therefore to the present state, as Christ reigns 
only until he hath put death the last enemy under His 
feet, when He shall deliver up the kingdom. And the es- 
tablishment of the kingdom being only " nigh at hand," 
as we have seen, when the indications of Christ's return are 
seen — its existence must be subsequent to His coming.* 

* Some have, however, denied, that the Millennial dispensation 
can be meant in the predictions of Christ's kingdom, because it is 
said to be " for ever," while John represents the continuance of 
the Millennial reign as to be for 1000 years. But this, while it af- 
fords ground to conclude that its existence will not be limited to a 
thousand literal years, is no argument against its identity with the 
Millennial kingdom predicted by the prophets, who also frequently 
speak of its duration as for ever. At Israel's restoration, "they 
shall dwell," saith the Lord, "in the land that I have given unto 
Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt ; and they shall 
dwell therein, even they and their children, and their children's 
children, for ever, and my servant The Beloved shall be their Prince 
for ever." Ezek.xxxvii. 25. " And I will make her that halted a rem- 
nant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation. And the Lord 
shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth even for ever." 
Mic. iv. 7. "Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall 
inherit the land for ever." Is. lx. 21. " Behold the days come, saith 
the Lord, that the city [Jerusalem] shall be built to the Lord, from 
the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.. ..It shall not be 
plucked up nor thrown down any more for ever. 9 ' Jer. xxxi. 38 — 40. 
"But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and pos- 
sess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." Dan. vii. 18. 
Yet no one will venture to deny that these passages refer to the 
duration of that Millennial kingdom which John represents as con- 
tinuing for 1000 years. 



8 



210 SUBMISSION DUE TO REVELATION [Sect. XXV. 



SECTION XXV. 

THE SUBMISSION DUE TO REVEALED TRUTH, WITH 
REMARKS ON OBJECTIONS TO THESE DOCTRINES. 

Having produced from the prophets so much evidence for 
Christ's premillennial advent and subsequent reign on earth 
— having shown the literal fulfilment of prophecies already 
accomplished — having adverted to the views of believers 
sanctioned by Christ himself — having proved His return to- 
be at the restoration of Israel ; at the times of Refreshing 
and Restitution ; and at the destruction of Antichrist, — and 
having shown these to be in perfect harmony with the 
various predictions concerning concomitant events, — it may 
now be asked if there be any room to doubt the great truth 
in which all these predictions centre, The return of Christ 
and His future residence on earth, personally to assume the 
reins of government? Or can it still be believed, that, 
with all these distinct prophecies before us, the Redeemer's 
only residence among men should be a pilgrimage of sor- 
row and suffering, and that, — instead of reigning in Jer- 
usalem, — a few years of ignominy and pain should termi- 
nate His immediate relation to our earth ? When thorough- 
ly purified and rendered fit for the residence of the Son 
of God, shall it not rather be again honoured with the 
presence of Him who once in suffering trod its surface, and 
for whom it scarce afforded shelter, — when as King He shall 
reign in Zion, and receive the grateful homage of the kings 
and princes of the earth ? — And that His faithful followers, 
who, amidst the wickedness with which they were sur- 
rounded, have in all ages, witnessed for His cause, shall then 
also be made partakers of His glorious reign, being made 
kings and priests to God, while harmony shall universally 
prevail among men. — That then, too, shall the Inferior Ani- 
mals participate of the temporal blessings flowing from 
Emmanuel's blood, and the ferocity being removed by 
which many of them are now characterized, and by which 
they are rendered formidable to man and destructive of 
each other, they shall range in peacefulness together, and 
in happy subserviency to man their lord. — That then the 
earth itself which has so long withheld her fertility, yield- 



Sect. XXV.] AND REMARKS ON OBJECTIONS. 



211 



ing her fruits only by the sweat of man's brow, being re- 
deemed from the bondage of corruption under which it groans, 
shall spontaneously yield those fruits which are necessary 
for food, or which contribute to the comfort of human life. 

And surely, if we are among the number of those who 
have already received the u Holy Spirit of promise, which 
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of 
the purchased possession," (Eph. i. 14,) and if we be 
rightly exercised, instead of being unwilling to receive this 
glorious Lord with all the attendant blessings, His coming 
ought to be an object of delightful contemplation, and 
every symptom of its near approach should be hailed with 
thanksgiving. So it was formerly viewed by His disciples 
and apostles, who " desired to see" this glorious " day of 
the Son of Man." To it their hopes were continually di- 
rected, and its coming and glory are made the great mo- 
tive to duty by the inspired penmen, and is ever urged 
upon believers as the period when they shall obtain ample 
recompense for whatever wrongs they sustain — receive full 
consolation for any sufferings they are called to endure — 
and enjoy a high reward for their services of love to the 
Redeemer. Although the Saviour's return was not to take 
place for so long a period after the apostolic age, yet the 
admonitions to the primitive churches are so couched as to 
convey instruction equally adapted for them and us " on 
whom the ends of the world are come." A spirit of watch- 
fulness and waiting was inculcated on them which ought 
equally to have characterized the Church in all subsequent 
ages. A salutary uncertainty was left as to the period of 
Christ's return ; and even when the apostle Paul corrected 
the mistake of the Thessalonian church when they ex- 
pected His coming instantly to take place, he still left them, 
in ignorance of the length of time which must first elapse. 
Although he informed them that Antichrist must first be 
revealed, and that his destruction should be effected by the 
glorious appearance of Christ's coming, they could still 
form no idea of the duration of this wicked power. Pro- 
phetic dates were indeed given to the Church, but it was 
also predicted that they should not be understood till about 
the period of their accomplishment, " for the words are 
closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Dan. xii. 12. 
It is remarkable, however, that the nearer the Church ar- 

s2 



212 SUBMISSION DUE TO REVELATION [Sect. XXV. 



rived to the time of the fulfilment of these predictions, the 
more completely did the hope and desire of His coming 
die away. And it is also remarkable, that with the decay 
of the church's belief in this glorious doctrine, did her 
teachers cease to inculcate His coming as a motive to duty; 
till at length what the apostles evidently regarded as the 
most powerful persuasive to holiness, and the most conso- 
latory doctrine to the suffering and bereaved, seemed to 
have wholly lost its efficacy, and was seldom referred to 
with this design, — the hopes of believers in such cases, 
being generally directed to the day of their death.* 

* In the present day there are many who even apply the predic- 
tions of the coming of Christ and the day of the Lord to the time of 
death. This, Dr. Hamilton (p. 254) endeavours to justify. Quot- 
ing 1 Thess. v. 1 — 4, and with it citing 2 Pet. iii. 4, 10, 12, (for 
what purpose we cannot perceive, unless he means also to apply the 
passing away of the heavens to the day of death !) he applies them to 
the decease of " every individual in that and in every succeeding 
age." The ground on which he makes this application maybe made 
equally applicable to almost every passage predicting the glorious 
coming of Christ. The apostle says, " But YE, brethren, are not 
in darkness, that that day should overtake YOU as a thief" and from 
the personal nature of this and other addresses, the Doctor infers 
that " the day of the Lord" is the day of death. But before adopt- 
ing such a principle of interpretation, let us observe the conse- 
quences of its application. The great apostle of the Gentiles, ad- 
dressing the church at Corinth concerning the observance of the 
Lord's Supper, reminds them that Jesus said unto His disciples, 
" This do ye as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as 
often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's 
death till He come." 1 Cor. xi. 25, 26. From this would Dr. H. 
infer that any of the twelve, or any i?idividual of the Corinthian 
church living when the apostle wrote, and whom he immediately 
addressed, should continue to show forth the Saviour's death until 
His Return. Or would he deny that the " ye" applied to the 
church in all ages " till He come." Again, was it not the literal ad- 
vent of Christ to which the same apostle referred when he blessed the 
Lord that the believing Thessalonians had 44 turned to God from idols 
to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from hea« 
ven" ? 1 Thess. i. 9, 10. And to refer to the passage cited by the 
Doctor, is it not the day of the literal coming of Christ of which 
the apostle Peter speaks when he exhorts those to whom he wrote 
to be " looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of 
God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved" } 2 Pet. 
iii. 12. So Paul, again speaking of the resurrection and glorifica- 
tion of the saints at Christ's coming, says, " The dead in Christ 
shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught 
up together with them in the clouds." 1 Thess. iv. 17> and 1 Cor. 
xv. 51, 52. Is there any passage which speaks of the coming of 
Christ that contains a more direct or personal address than these? 
Yet they evidently refer to the Saviour's Personal Return. 



Sect. XXV.] 



AND REMARKS ON OBJECTIONS. 



213 



The cause of this departure from apostolic example 
may, perhaps, on examination, be found in the distance at 
which systematic theology has latterly placed the Com- 
ing of the Lord. The apostles uniformly urged it upon 
the Church as an event so sudden and unexpected, that 
believers were not allowed to lose sight of it as an event 
which might possibly be realized in their own day. Thus, 
when the apostle would remove the premature apprehen- 
sions of the church at Thessalonica he does not say, they 
had no reason for perturbation, as many centuries must 
elapse before the coming of Christ. He beseeches them, 
(2 Thess. ii. 2,) that they u be not soon shaken in mind 
or be troubled" But, by placing His coming after the 
Millennium, we render it certain to every one that he must 
long before have been gathered to his fathers — since 1000 
years must assuredly intervene. 

It is a common objection to the doctrine of Christ's per- 
sonal reign on earth that it is unnecessary, since He can as 
easily accomplish all His purposes while in heaven. Far 
be it from us to say a single word to detract from the omni- 
potence of Jesus. But our present inquiry is not what He 
could have done, but what he designs to do. The only 
means by which a knowledge of this can be obtained is by 
an examination of the revelation of His will. This we 
have shown has left no room for speculation on the neces- 
sity or expediency of His presence. His word is explicit, 
and we are not at liberty to doubt the wisdom of His pur- 
poses. It is true, that, in the Scriptures of truth, there .are 
many things perplexing and astounding to human reason. 
The finite mind can ill comprehend the deep things of God. 
It is but little of His ways that we can know. The objec- 
tion of Christ's personal reign being unnecessary, can there- 
fore have no weight against an appeal to the law and to 
the testimony. Our being unable to see the necessity for 
any doctrine, or even its being in opposition to our ideas 
of the nature and fitness of things, cannot be urged against 
what God has revealed. The very character of true faith 
is to believe. Nothing could have been more opposed to 
carnal reason than the command given to Abraham while 
he dwelt at Beersheba to go up to a certain mount in the 
land of Moriah, and there to offer up Isaac for a burnt 

s3 



214 



SUBMISSION DUE TO REVELATION [Sect. XXV. 



offering. Isaac was Abraham's son, his only and beloved 
son, and the heir of promise. The father might have reasoned 
against such a command not merely as unnecessary, but as 
unnatural, and altogether incompatible with the fulfilment 
of the promise of God, that in Isaac should his seed be 
called. But Abraham " accounting that God was able to 
raise him up even from the dead," conferred not with flesh 
and blood, but 4 ' stretched forth his hand and took the knife 
to slay his son/' For this he received the honourable ap- 
pellation of " the father of the faithful." But if faith thus 
obey God's command, even when against reason, is there 
no ground to question the genuineness of that which would 
set itself against the plainest testimony, because we perceive 
not the necessity of what God has promised? 

But not only is this doctrine opposed as unnecessary, it is 
also decried as degrading.* This objection can have little 
weight when brought to bear against the reign of Him 
whose love for our fallen race brought Him from the man- 
sions of heavenly bliss under very different circumstances, 
being subjected to the insults of men, and under the hid- 
ing of His Father's countenance ; " who being in the form 
of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made 
Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of 
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being 
found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Where- 
fore, God also hath highly exalted Him, and given him a 
name which is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus 
every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in 
earth and things under the earth." " But now we see not 
yet all things put under Him." Phil. ii. 6 — 10. Heb. iL 8. 

* It is not a little surprising, that, in the very page in which Mr. 
Mason reprobates the doctrine as one that would bringChrist "from 
His glory above to an ignominious dwelling among men," he con- 
fesses of the Old Testament predictions and promises that 4i many 
expressions are found in them so snblime and glorious, as constrain 
us to apply them in their highest sense to the heavenly state." 
(Gentiles' Fulness, p. 195.) But, instead of thus misapplying the 
predictions concerning the Millennium, we -ought rather to be con- 
strained to believe that they truly refer to a period when the taber- 
nacle of God shall dwell with men, and " when the Lord shall reign in 
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients .gloriously." 



Sect. XXV.] AND REMARKS ON OBJECTIONS. 215 



His sufferings were endured only for the glory that should 
follow — an increase of which would result from His personal 
reign on earth. It is generally esteemed an enhancement 
of the honour to which an individual attains, that he is 
honoured in the very place where formerly he was despised. 
To this principle of our nature the Scriptures make frequent 
appeal. Speaking of the exaltation of Israel, the Lord 
says, " I will get them praise and fame in every land where 
they were put to shame!' Zeph. iii. 19. " And it shall 
come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, 
Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye 
are the sons of the living God/' Hos. i. 10. If this be an 
honour to God s ancient people, may it not be also con- 
sidered a greater degree of exaltation to the Saviour that 
the scene of His sufferings should be that of His triumph ? — 
that the same earth should behold the exaltation of Him 
of whose living agonies and accursed death it is said in figure 
to have been an unwilling witness. Is there any degrada- 
tion in His having exchanged the crown of thorns for one 
of glory? —that instead of the reed of insult He should 
there wield the sceptre of universal sovereignty ? — and that 
where He was hailed King in derision, He should be ac- 
knowledged the sole and rightful Lord? To this very hon- 
our there seems a special reference in the following passage ; 
<c Behold my servant shall deal prudently, He shall be ex- 
alted and be extolled, and be very high. As many were 
astonished at thee, (his visage was so marred more than 
any man, and his form more than the sons of men,) so shall 
he sprinkle many nations ; the kings shall shut their mouths 
at him." Is. Hi. 13 — 15. There is another beautiful allu- 
sion by the same prophet to the relation between his humi- 
liation and exaltation: " By His knowledge shall my 
righteous servant justify many, for He shall bear their ini- 
quities, therefore will I divide Him a portion with the 
great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, be- 
cause He hath, poured out His soul unto death!' Is. liii. 
11, 12. Instead, therefore, of being degrading, the doc- 
trine of Christ's triumph being enjoyed where His suffer- 
ings were endured, is not only clearly revealed, but is in full 
.accordance with the dictates of reason, as enhancing his glory. 

Some who are willing to admit the strength of Scrip- 



216 SUBMISSION DUE TO REVELATION [Sect. XXV. 



tural evidence produced, may, however, be ready to sup- 
pose the Coming of Christ and the commencement of the 
Millennium at a great distance, as few of the nations of the 
earth have yet been converted, and past experience does 
not warrant the hope of the Gospel's being speedily received 
by them. Were there any promise that it should be univer- 
sally accepted before the coming of the Lord, human proba- 
bility must have given place to the assurance of faith — the 
faithfulness, and the power of God being received as 
sufficient pledge for the certainty of the fulfilment of His 
promise. It would indeed have been a pleasing prospect 
for Christian philanthropy that so glorious a transforma- 
tion should be so soon effected by the mild persuasive of 
the love of Christ. And we are bound to thank God for 
what success He has been pleased to bestow on Missionary 
operations, the present extent and anticipated increase of 
which must afford the purest delight to all rightly exer- 
cised Christians. They rejoice in their success for the 
glory of God and the salvation of souls, feeling themselves 
under the highest obligations to promote their interests. 
But there is reason to fear that in our ardour for the work, 
too sanguine expectations have been entertained of the 
result. The Millennium, it is supposed by many, will be 
the gracious result of the mere preaching of the gospel, 
and the present aspect of the world has rendered some 
doubtful if the commencement of that happy era can be 
near at hand; But the Scriptures do not represent the 
nations as having generally received the gospel at the period 
of Christ's return, nor is this the expectation of those who 
are now " looking for that blessed hope and the glorious 
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ/' 
Titus n\ 13. "This gospel of The Kingdom, 5 ' our Lord 
himself said, as we have already noticed, "shall be 
preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, 
and then shall the end come" — the end of the age, when 
Christ shall be seen coming in the clouds of heaven. 
Matt. xxiv. 3, 14. This work of preaching the gospel, 
or good news, of the coming kingdom, is in progress, and 
when its invitations shall have been addressed to all 
nations the kingdom itself shall be established. From 
most countries, to the praise of divine grace, a few have 
been already gathered to the blessed Redeemer. Some 



Sect. XXV.] AND REMARKS ON OBJECTIONS. 



217 



have, however, resisted every attempt to make known its 
salutary doctrines among them, or to introduce this gracious 
witness. But the Spirit will not always strive with men, 
and those who despise or neglect the proffered mercy shall 
endure the weight of divine wrath. When the Jews had 
filled up the measure of their iniquity by the crucifixion of 
the Lord of glory, He sent and destroyed those wicked men 
and burnt up their city, and let out His spiritual vineyard 
to other husbandmen. The gospel was then intrusted to 
certain nations of the Gentiles, with the assurance that if 
they continued not in the goodness of God, they also should 
be cut off ; (Rom. xi. 22.) for, " after a long time, the Lord 
of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them." Matt, 
xxv. 19. Instead, however, of profiting by the warning 
of God and the fate of Israel, these nations have perverted 
His gospel, thus heaping up wrath unto themselves against 
the day of wrath. God, foreseeing their awful abuse and 
perversion of His grace, determined that they should be cut 
off; and in order that this warning might have due effect, 
He ordained that the gospel which denounced their sin and 
foretold its punishment should first be preached in all the 
world for a witness unto all nations. In the apocalyptic 
vision, therefore, immediately before the downfall of mystic 
Babylon, the apostle saw an angel commissioned to preach 
to all nations, calling them to " fear God and give glory 
to Him, for the hour of His judgments is come." Rev. xiv, 
6, 7. And the redeemed who stand on the sea of glass, 
" Sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song 
of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, 
Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou 
King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and 
glorify thy name ? for thou only art holy, for all nations 
shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are 
made manifest." Rev. xv. 3, 4. Thus will the righteous 
indignation of God against transgressors be vindicated in 
the eyes of men. And while other nations are being put 
in possession of the gospel as a witness, those which have 
so long been intrusted with Gods word and ordinances 
are fast ripening for judgment. Instead, then, of the pre- 
sent state of the world indicating the coming of the Lord to 
be at a great distance, Prophecy and the external aspects of 
the- nations seem alike to intimate His near approach. 



218 SUBMISSION DUE TO REVELATION [Sect. XXV. 



There is one other objection which, though generally 
regarded as bearing against the doctrine of Christ" s prernil- 
lennial advent, does in reality confirm it. If Christ's per- 
sonal reign on earth were a Scriptural doctrine, it is sup- 
posed that it could not have remained unknown to the 
Church or untaught by her ministers. It is indeed surpris- 
ing that it should have been so long generally overlooked, 
and still more so that it should ever have been utterly de- 
nied. But even this forms the subject of prophecy; by 
which we are prepared not merely for the indifference with 
which it is viewed, but also for the rejection of the Scrip- 
tural Evidence by which it is supported. Our Saviour, as 
has been already noticed, having predicted to the disciples 
His coming after the tribulations upon the Jews, spake 
several parables for their farther information. By one of 
these, the state of the Church with respect to the expecta- 
tion of the Saviour s return is intimated : " Then," or at 
that time, (of His coming,) said the omniscient Saviour, 
who well knew the change the opinions of his professing 
people would undergo concerning the time of his Return; — 
" Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten 
virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the 
Bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were 
foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took 
no oil with them ; but the wise took oil in their vessels with 
their lamps. While the Bridegroom tarried, they all 
slumbered and slept. And, at midnight, there was a cry 
made, Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet 
Him." Mat. xxv. 1 — 6. The whole professing church, 
both real Christians and hypocrites, is thus represented as 
falling asleep, while Christ delayeth His coming, and as 
being roused from their lethargy just at the annunciation 
of His return. - How strikingly does this parable charac- 
terize the Christian Church! Before the close of the third 
century, many had lost that wakefulness by which the apos- 
tolic age was distinguished. Afterwards the church generally 
was lulled into repose, (although from time to time a few 
have been found in all ages faithfully declaring these sublime 
truths,) until in later times this lighter slumber had settled into 
deep unbroken sleep. The Saviour represents the church as 
being in this state till immediately before His coming, being 
awakened from it only by the announcement of His return. 



Sect. XXV.] 



AND REMARKS ON OBJECTIONS. 



219 



Instead, therefore, of the present indifference and disbelief 
manifested by the church being evidence against the truth 
of these doctrines, that circumstance, taken in connexion 
with their recent partial revival, is in itself a proof of the 
time being near at hand. In the parable, the virgins con- 
tinued asleep until the time of the Bridegroom's approach. 
The cry, Behold He cometh, was made at midnight, and 
therefore very near the morning. As in the church this cry 
has already arisen His coming must be near, even at the door, 
It is on this account the more necessary that those already 
aroused should endeavour to awaken others, that they may 
be found ready to receive Him. Especially does it become 
such of " the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mys- 
teries of God," (1 Cor. iv. 1,) as have been brought to a 
knowledge of this glorious doctrine to be found exerting 
themselves in making it known. It has too long been ex- 
cluded from the Christian's creed ; nor will the furtherance 
of God's designs arising from our disbelief vindicate the 
Church in this important omission. It can be little satis- 
faction to the believer to know, that his listlessness with 
respect to the period of his Lord's return has more effec- 
tually lulled the world into security, and that thus more 
obviously " as a mare shall it come on all them that dwell 
on the face of the whole earth." Luke xxi. 35. " For 
yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so 
cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, 
Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon 
them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall 
not escape." 1 Thess. v. 2, 3. But are there none, even 
among the disciples of Jesus, who have in these last times 
joined themselves with the scoffers, who unbelievingly ask, 
" Where is the promise of His coming?*' 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4. 
Many and precious are the promises given to the saints 
who shall be found waiting and looking for the Lord from 
heaven, but the professing church of the present day has 
assumed a very different attitude. The multiplicity of 
proof, direct and indirect, of the nearness of His return is 
generally disregarded, while ignorance and enthusiasm are 
charged on those by whom it is received. The unbe- 
liever's proverb has not indeed been confined to the land of 
the literal Israel, " The days are prolonged, and every 
vision faileth. Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord 



220 SUBMISSION DUE TO REVELATION [Sect. XXV. 



God, I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no 
more use it as a proverb in Israel ; but say unto them, The 
days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.'' Ezek. xii. 
22, 23. How clearly did the omniscience of Jesus fore- 
see the state of the church before His coming! and how 
distinctly did he predict it as being " then," or at that time, 
likened unto ten virgins who had fallen asleep " while the 
Bridegroom tarried!"* And the belief having once ob- 
tained that a thousand years had certainly to elapse before 
the coming of Christ, how few have fully examined the 
divine record for the authority on which this opinion is 
supposed to rest ! Surely we will not be regarded as unrea- 
sonable, if, before submitting our faith to such an opinion, 
we require the evidence of its divine original. It adds not 
a little to confirm the truth of these doctrines, that those 
who oppose them generally satisfy themselves with empty 
declamation, inveighing against what they have not con- 
sidered, and disregarding the proof they cannot refute. 
Those who esteem the authority of God's word as para- 
mount will require objections more weighty than the unsup- 
ported charges with which these doctrines have yet been 
assailed; and, distinguishing between Scriptural proof and 
futile attempts to set its evidence aside, they will be little 
moved by the profusion of odious names which are so easily 
applied, and which have, in this case, been so liberally 
bestowed. But, notwithstanding of the general indifference 
manifested, and the violent opposition some have made unto 
them, as these doctrines become more fully known, they are 
also more generally received. The prepossessions of men 
have been made to yield to the power of divine truth. On 
the continents both of Europe and America they have made 
some progress, and in England are now taught from above 
an hundred pulpits. In Scotland, however, an appalling 

* As are the predictions of Christ's coming, so is this parable, 
also, often applied to the time of each individual's death. But the 
figure is one of a collective character, representing the state of the 
whole church at a particular time. Independently, indeed, of our 
Lord's direct application of it to the time of His return in the clouds 
of heaven — for it is "then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened 
unto ten virgins" — it is not even true of all the members of the 
church, the wise as well as the foolish, that before death they have 
fallen asleep with regard to that event, even the wise being only 
awakened by its solemnity when eternity is opening to view. 



Sect. XXV.] AND REMARKS ON OBJECTIONS. 



221 



stillness prevails. From some of her watch-towers the note 
of alarm has indeed been heard, in solemn warning of ap- 
proaching judgments, but how few of the ministers of Jesus 
have yet lifted up their voice to proclaim their Master's 
speedy coming, or to call for thankfulness on account of 
it !* When formerly Christ tabernacled on earth, we are 
told, (Mark xii. 37,) that " the common people heard Him 
gladly," while the Scribes and Pharisees were his impla- 
cable foes. Yet these were most familiar with the Scrip- 
tures, and were also faithful in their injunctions with regard 
to legal observances : " All, therefore, whatsoever they bid 
you observe," said the Saviour, (Mat. xxiii, 3,) "that ob- 
serve and do." They also knew the time when, and could 
tell the place where, the Messiah should be born, yet with 
awful infatuation did they reject and persecute to the death 
the Lord of glory, entailing ruin upon themselves and upon 
those who trusted in their false interpretations. 

But neither the silence nor the opposition of any of the 
ministers of Christ should prevent Christians from making a 
proper improvement of the exemplary punishment inflicted 
on the Jews, by examining for themselves the scriptures of 
truth, and watching with care against that spirit of unbelief 
which will assuredly involve many in a catastrophe still 
more awful. Not a few who now wonder at the blindness 
with which the Jews were visited, and the infatuation they 
displayed in overlooking evidence so full, so various, and 
so unambiguous, are themselves wilfully shutting their eyes 
against the clearest light. While we lament that darkness 
which so beclouded the moral vision of God's ancient peo- 
ple, and prevented their perceiving the promised Messiah 
in the meek and lowly Jesus ; and while we reprobate 

* Since the publication of the former edition, the Millenarian 
cause has indeed received large accessions, both in England and 
Scotland, from all denominations. Neither the ribaldry and ridicule 
of the profane, nor — what, to a mind rightly exercised, is more painful 
by far — the indifference and disbelief of the church itself, have pre- 
vented the acknowledgment of these truths ; and did the strength 
of our cause depend in any degree on the opinions of men, the names 
of not a few might be exhibited, of long-acknowledged and distin- 
guished talent, who have enrolled themselves under the Millenarian 
banner. The expression of regret in the text has, however, been 
left unaltered, as the number of those by whom these doctrines are 
taught from the pulpit in Scotland is still, comparatively, "few." 

T 



222 



DESTRUCTION OF 



[Sect. XXVI. 



their criminality in His rejection and accursed death, it 
becomes us to inquire whether there may not be the ten- 
dency to a similar spirit in our unwillingness to believe the 
predictions of his future glory. Guilt may perhaps be as 
really contracted by having our attention so completely 
engrossed by the sufferings and death of Christ that we 
disregard or discredit the testimony of God by his prophets 
concerning the Redeemer's glorious reign, as in being so 
dazzled by its splendour as not to perceive the necessity 
of His death for the redemption of a lost and guilty world, 
and the glorious display which was thus made of the 
divine perfections. If Jewish infidelity, with respect to 
the humiliation of Christ, has been visited by a punishment 
so severe, Christians would do well to consider whether 
there be not an approximation to Jewish glosses in our 
explanations, (if such they can be called,) of predictions 
concerning the glory that should follow. May not we be 
as guilty as the Jews, who rejected Him who came to re- 
deem them from the power and consequences of sin, should 
we be found among those who say in their hearts, " We 
will not have this man to reign over us," in the manner 
and at the time He has been pleased to appoint? "Be 
not high-minded, but fear, for if God spared not the natu- 
ral branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee/' Rom. 
xi. 21. Israel is not finally cast off by God. A remnant 
is still preserved, to whom His grace shall yet be manifested 
and by whom His power is yet to be signally displayed. 
But the day of their restoration will be one of awful de- 
struction to their enemies — the enemies of God, and the 
enemies of men. 



SECTION XXVI. 

DESTRUCTION OF ANTICHRISTIAN NATIONS. 

Contemplating the period when Judah, now dispersed 
into every land, by all oppressed, shall be visited by the 
day-spring from on high; and when Israel, long left to 
wander in the vain imaginations of their own hearts, outcast 
from the favour of God and the knowledge of men, shall 
be cleansed from their iniquity and brought into the land 



Sect. XXVI.] AXTICHR1STIAN NATIONS. 223 

of their fathers, which is promised them for an everlasting 
possession, — anticipating with delight the glories of that 
blissful day, the Christian will exclaim with the Psalmist, 
" Oh ! that the Salvation of Israel were come out of 
Zion ! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His 
people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad." Ps. 
xiv. 7. But, before this glorious consummation, that people 
have much to do and much to endure. At the time when 
Michael the prince shall stand up for the children of 
Daniels people, " there shall be a time of trouble such as 
never was since there was a nation even to that same time 
(Dan. xii. 1.) " For then shall be great tribulation such as 
was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, 
nor ever shall be. And except those days should be 
shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the 
elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 99 Matt. xxiv. 
21, 22. While men delude themselves with the idea of a 
peaceful introduction to the Millennium, the Scriptures 
represent it as being immediately preceded by one of the 
most awful catastrophes with which the earth has yet been 
visited. " For, as in the days that were before the flood 
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in 
marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 
and knew not until the flood came and took them all awav ; 
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Matt, 
xxiv. 38, 39. " Likewise, also, as it was in the days of 
Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they 
planted, they builded ; but the same day that Lot went 
out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and 
destroyed them all ; even thus shall it be in the day when 
the Son of Man is revealed." Luke xvii. 28 — 30. "Blow 
ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy 
mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for 
the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day 
of darkness and of gloominess; a day of clouds and of 
thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains ; 
a great people and a strong ; there hath not been ever the 
like, neither shall be any more after it even to the years 
of many generations .... Before their face the people shall 
be much pained ; all faces shall gather blackness. . . .The 
earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; 
the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall 

t 2 



224 



DESTRUCTION OF 



[Sect. XXV f. 



withdraw their shining; and the Lord shall utter His 
voice before His army : for His camp is very great ; for 
He is strong that executeth His word ; for the day of the 
Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it ?" 
Joel ii, 1 — 11. "The great day of the Lord is near, it is 
near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the 
Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly; that day 
is a day of wrath and day of trouble and distress, a day of 
wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, 
a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet 
and alarm against the fenced cities and against the high 
towers. And I will bring distress upon men that they 
shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against 
the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust and 
their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their 
gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's 
wrath ; but the whole land shall be devoured by tbe fire 
of His jealousy ; for He shall make even a speedy riddance 
of all them that dwell in the land/' Zeph. i. 14 — 18. 
<( The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir 
up jealousy like a man of war; He shall cry, yea, roar; 
He shall prevail against His enemies. . . .1 will destroy and 
devour at once." Is. xlii. 13, 14, "Hear the word of 
the Lord, ye that tremble at His word ; your brethren 
that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, 
'Let the Lord be glorified ; but He shall appear to your 
joy and they shall be ashamed. A voice of noise from the 
city, a voice from the Temple, a voice of the Lord that 
rendereth recompense to His enemies. . . .And the hand of 
the Lord shall be known toward His servants, and His 
indignation toward His enemies. For, behold! the lord 
will come with fre, and with His chariots like a whirl- 
wind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with 
flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the 
Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall 
be many." Is. Ixvi. 5 — 16. To this last prediction, the 
apostle Paul evidently alludes, when, addressing the church 
at Thessalonica, he says of the coming of Christ, " it is a 
righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them 
that trouble you ; and to you who are troubled rest with 
us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven 
with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance 



Sect. XXVI.] 



ANTICHRISTTAN NATIONS. 



225 



on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel 
of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with 
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and 
from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be 
glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that 
believed 2 Thess. i. 6—10. " Behold the Name of the 
Lord cometh from far, burning with His anger, and the 
burden thereof is heavy; His lips are full of indignation 
and His tongue as a devouring fire. . . .And the Lord shall 
cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the 
lighting down of His arm with the indignation of His 
anger and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering 
and tempest and hailstones/' Is. xxx. 27 — 30. " There- 
fore, wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that 
I rise up to the prey ; for my determination is to gather 
the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour 
upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger ; for 
all the earth shall be devoured with the fre of my jeal- 
ousy! 1 Zeph. iii. 8. " For behold the day cometh that 
shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that 
do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh 
shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall 
leave them neither root nor branch/' Mai. iv. 1. " And I 
will overthrow the throne of kingdoms ; and I will destroy 
the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen ; and I will 
overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them : and 
the horses and their riders shall come down every one by 
the sword of his brother. " Hag. ii. 22. " For behold, in 
those days and in that time when I shall bring again the 
captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all 
nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehos- 
haphat, and will plead with them therefor my people, and 
for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among 
the nations and parted my land .... Behold I will raise them 
out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return 
your recompense upon your own head. . . .Proclaim ye this 
among the Gentiles ; prepare war, wake up the mighty 
men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. 
Beat your plough-shares into swords, and your pruning- 
hooks into spears ; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble 
yourselves and come all ye heathen, and gather yourselves 
together round about; thither cause thy mighty ones to 

t3 



226 



DESTRUCTION OP 



[Sect. XXVI. 



come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened and 
come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit 
to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, 
for the harvest is ripe : come, get you down ; for the press 
is full, the fate overflow ; for their wickedness is great. 
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision ; for the 
day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun 
and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall with- 
draw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, 
and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and 
the earth shall shake ; but the Lord will be the hope of 
His people, and the strength of the children of Israel/' 
Joel iii. 1 — 16. " God came from Teman, and the 
Holy One from Mount Paran. Selak His glory cover- 
ed the heavens and the earth was full of His praise. 
And His brightness was as the light; He had horns 
[the symbol of authority and power] coming out of His 
hand; and there was the hiding of his power. Before 
Him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at 
his feet. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld 
and drove asunder the nations ; and the everlasting moun- 
tains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow. . . .The 
sun and moon stood still in their habitation : at the light 
of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glitter- 
ing spear. Thou didst march through the land in indig- 
nation, thou didst thrash the heathen in anger." Habak. 
iii. 8 — 12. u Come near ye nations to hear, and hearken 
ye people ; let the earth hear and all that is therein ; the 
world and all things that come forth of it. For the indig- 
nation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon 
all their armies : He hath utterly destroyed them, He 
hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also 
shall be cast out and their stink shall come up out of their 
carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their 
blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and 
the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll : and all 
their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the 
vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree : for my sword 
shall be bathed in heaven. Behold, it shall come down 
upon Idumea and upon the people of my curse to judg- 
ment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood ; it is 
made fat with fatness and with the blood of lambs and 



Sect. XXVI.] ANTICHRISTIAN NATIONS. 



227 



goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams ; for the Lord 
hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the 
land of Idumea .... For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, 
and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." 
Is. xxxiv. 1 — 8. " Behold the day of the Lord cometh, 
cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land 
desolate : and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of 
it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof 
shall not give their light ; the sun shall be darkened in his 
going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked 
for their iniquity. ... I will make aman more precious than 
fine gold ; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall 
remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, 
and in the day of His fierce anger." Is. xiii. 9 — 13. " Be- 
hold the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it 
waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad 
the inhabitants thereof. . . . The land shall he utterly emp- 
tied and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this 
word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away ; the world 
languisheth and fadeth away ; the haughty people of the 
earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the 
inhabitants thereof. . . .Therefore hath the curse devoured 
the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; there- 
fore the inhabitants of the earth are burned smifew men 
left. . . .Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O in- 
habitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass that he 
who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the 
pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit 
shall be taken in the snare : for the windows from on high 
are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The 
earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, 
the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to 
and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cot- 
tage ; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; 
and it shall fall and not rise again. And it shall come to 
pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the 
high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon 
the earth. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners 
are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, 
and after many days shall they be visited. Then the 



228 



DESTRUCTION OF 



[Sect. XXVI. 



moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the 
Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, 
and before His ancients gloriously. " Is. xxiv. 1 — 23. 
" Now, therefore, be ye not mockers, lest your bands be 
made strong : for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts 
a consumption even determined upon the whole earth!' 
Is. xxvii. 22. 

In this work of tremendous destruction with which the 
Millennium is to be ushered in, Israel and Judah shall be 
made powerful instruments in the hand of the Lord; and 
their land appears to be the destined spot for the great and 
final overthrow. " When I have bent Judah for me," 
saith the Lord, " filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised 
up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and 
made thee as the sword of a mighty man. And the Lord 
shall be seen over them, and His arrows shall go forth as 
the lightning, and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, 
and shall go with whirlwinds of the south ; the Lord of 
hosts shall defend them." Zech. ix. 13, 14. " But thou 
Israel art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the 
seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken 
from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief 
men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant ; I 
have chosen thee and not cast thee away. . . . Behold I will 
make thee a new sharp thrashing instrument having teeth ; 
thou shalt thrash the mountains and beat them small, and 
shalt make the hills as chaff." Is. xli. 8, 9, 15. "And 
the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph 
a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall 
kindle in them and devour them ; and there shall not be 
any remaining of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath 
spoken it." Obad. ver. 18. " The portion of Jacob is 
not like them ; for He is the Former of all things ; and 
Israel is the rod of His inheritance ; the Lord of hosts is 
His name. Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war; 
for with thee will 1 break in pieces the nations ; and with 
thee will I destroy kingdoms ; and with thee will I break in 
pieces the horse and his rider ; and with thee will I break 
in pieces the chariot and his rider ; with thee also will 
I break in pieces man and woman ; and with thee will I 
break in pieces old and young ; and with thee will I 
break in pieces the young man and the maid ; I will also 



Sect. XXVI.] 



ANTICHRISTIAN NATIONS. 



229 



break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock ; and 
with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his 
yoke of oxen ; and with thee will I break in pieces cap- 
tains and rulers." Jer. li. 19 — 23. " Now also many na- 
tions are gathered against thee [Zion;] that say, let her be 
defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know 
not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they His 
counsel ; for He shall gather them as the sheaves into the 
floor. Arise and thrash, O daughter of Zion; for I 
will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs 
brass ; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people ; and 
I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their 
substance unto the Lord of the whole earth." Mic. iv. 
11 — 13. "And the remnant of Jacob shall be among 
the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a lion 
among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the 
flocks of sheep ; who, if he go through, both treadeth down 
and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand 
shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine 
enemies shall be cut off. . . .And I will execute vengeance 
in anger, and fury upon the heathen, such as they have 
not heard." Micah v. 8, 9, 15. " Behold I will make 
Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round 
about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah 
and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make 
Jerusalem a burdensome-stone for all people : all that bur- 
den themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the 
people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that 
day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonish- 
ment and his rider with madness ; and I will open mine 
eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse 
of the people with blindness. . . .In that day will I make 
the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the 
wood and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall 
devour all the people round about, on the right hand and 
on the left : and J erusalem shall be inhabited again in her 
own place, even in Jerusalem. .. .In that day shall the 
Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem ; and he that is 
feeble among them at that day shall be as David ; and the 
house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord 
before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that 
I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jer- 



230 



DESTRUCTION OF [Sect. XXVI. 



usalem." Zech. xii. 2 — 9. " Behold the day of the Lord 
cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; 
and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the 
women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into 
captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cast off 
from the city. . . .And this shall be the plague wherewith 
the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against 
Jerusalem; their flesh shall consume away while they 
stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away 
in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in 
their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that 
a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them ; and 
they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, 
and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neigh- 
bour. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem : and the 
wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered 
together. .gold and silver, and apparel in great abun- 
dance." Zech. xiv. 2, 3, 12, 13, 14. " x\nd it shall come to 
pass at the same time, when Gog shall come against the 
land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come 
up in my face. . . .Surely in that day there shall be a great 
shaking in the land of Israel ; so that the fishes of the sea, 
and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, 
and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all 
the men that are on the face of the earth shall shake at 
my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, 
and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to 
the ground. And I will call for a sword against him 
throughout all my mowUains, saith the Lord God ; every 
man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will 
plead against him with pestilence and with blood ; and I 
will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the 
many people that are with him, an overflowing rain and 
great hailstones, fire and brimstone." Ezek. xxxviii. 18 — 22. 
" The nations shall see, and be confounded at all their 
might ; they shall lay their hands upon their mouth, their 
ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a ser- 
pent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the 
earth ; they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall 
fear because of thee." Mic. vii. 16, 17. 

Let the unbeliever tremble when he reads the denuncia- 



Sect. XXVI.] ANTI CHRISTIAN NATIONS. 



231 



lions of God's wrath, speedily to be inflicted on guilty 
nations ! The contemplation of such calamities being just 
about to overtake and overwhelm a secure though guilty 
world, is enough to melt the hardest heart into compassion. 
Truly "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the 
living God." Heb. x. 31. Why will the wicked refuse 
to forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts ? 
It is still "the accepted time and day of salvation." Let 
him therefore "return to the Lord and He will have mercy 
upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly par- 
don." Is. Iv. 7. Why should he delay in applying to 
the blood of sprinkling until compelled, in the bitterness of 
unavailing remorse, to exclaim, "The harvest is past, the 
summer is ended, and we are not saved." Jer. viii. 20. 
Let him betake, then, to Him who alone shall be a covert 
from the storm and a hiding-place from the tempest. 

Let Christians also attend to the injunction of the 
apostle, and " despise not prophesy ings." 1 Thess. v. 20. 
But while they rejoice in the prospect of a speedy meeting, 
in glorified humanity, with their Lord and Saviour ["for 
now is our salvation nearer than when we believed,"] they 
ought to "rejoice- with trembling." The state of the 
church demands their persevering prayers ; the opposition 
made to truth by their friends and brethren in Christ may 
occasion deep sorrow; and the objects of impending judg- 
ments call for their commiseration. There is, too, in the 
dangers to which they are themselves exposed, ground of 
fear and humility. These are indeed perilous times in 
which our lot is cast. Seducing spirits are abroad, of 
whose wiles we ought to take heed. The present aspects 
of society are ominous. Infidelity and indifference to 
spiritual things is obtaining ground in the professing chris- 
tian church. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance 
that we be on our guard against unbelief, " the sin which 
doth so easily beset us." Alas ! for the present prevalence 
of a false liberality, which is ever willing to sacrifice 
Revelation at the shrine of human reason. We boast of 
this liberality, regarding it as an attainment; although in 
many cases it is only another name for licentiousness. 
Unbelief may be displayed in various forms, and still retain 
its essential character of opposition to the revealed will of 
God. We characterize the age as "enlightened," but is 



232 



DESTRUCTION OF [Sect. XXVI. 



there displayed a greater relish or desire for the illumina- 
tions of the Holy Spirit? Intellectuality has usurped the 
seat of faith. The power of Christianity is little felt, and 
many of its precious truths are lightly prized. This nation' 
has been eminently favoured with religious privileges; but 
what is the improvement we now make of them ? Every 
characteristic of the last days, as given by the apostle 
Paul, (2 Tim. hi. iv.) seems fully applicable to the present 
times. But the worst feature of our case is the great igno- 
rance of our real character which prevails, and the indif- 
ference manifested to our state of danger. There is on the 
part of some of the leading men, in the management of our 
religious institutions, an anxiety displayed to conceal the 
Scripture predictions of premillennial judgments. But will 
this ward off a single blow, or lighten the wrath of divine 
indignation ? Whether men will hear, or whether they will 
forbear, against these lands the vengeance of God is de- 
nounced, and will assuredly be executed. Britain forms one 
of the kingdoms symbolized by " the ten horns" of the 
fourth beast, or Roman empire, seen in the visions of 
Daniel, (vii. 7, 24.) This beast, including all these horns, 
is to be " slain and his body destroyed, and given to the 
burning flame." ver. 11. It forms one also of the ten toes 
of Nebuchadnezzar's great image, which was " broken to 
'pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer 
thrashing-floors; and the wind carried them away , that no 
place was found for them/' Dan. ii. 35. " And in the 
days of these [ten] kings shall the God of heaven set up a 
kingdom which shall never be destroyed ; and the king- 
dom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in 
pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand 
for ever." ver. 44. When John, in apocalyptic vision, 
saw this beast carrying the Mother of Harlots, these ten 
kingdoms were shown unto him : " And the ten horns 
which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no 
kingdom as yet, [the Roman empire not having been then 
divided] .... These have one mind, and shall give their power 
and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with 
the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them." 1 Rev. xvii. 
7, 12 — 14. And again, he "saw the beast, and the kings 
of the earth and their armies, gathered together to make 
war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His 



Sect. XXVI.] ANTICHRISTIAN NATIONS. 



233 



army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false 
prophet that wrought miracles before him. . . .These both 
were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone!' 
Rev. xix. 19, 20. Thus is Britain included in the destruc- 
tion which shall overtake the ungodly nations. 

This, we apprehend, is also foretold by the prophet Jere- 
miah, in a prediction declaring the relative order of a series 
of God's desolating judgments, from before the time of the 
publication of the prophecy till the final destruction of Anti- 
christ. This is represented under the figure of a wine-cup 
being presented by the prophet to the different nations in 
regular succession : " For thus saith the Lord God of Is- 
rael unto me, Take the wine-cup of this fury at my hand, 
and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it. 
And they shall drink and be moved, and be mad, because 
of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I 
the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to 
drink unto whom the Lord had sent me ; to wit, Jerusalem, 
and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the 
princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonish- 
ment, an hissing, and a curse ; as it is this day : Pharaoh, 
king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all 
his people ; and all the mingled people, and all the kings of 
the land of Uz ; and all the kings of the land of the Phil- 
istines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the rem- 
nant of Ashdod ; Edom, and Moab, and the children of 
Ammon ; and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of 
Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea; 
Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the ut- 
most corners, [or " All cut off into corners/' marg.] and 
all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled 
people that dwell in the desart, and all the kings of Zimri, 
and all the kings of Elam, [Persia,] and all the kings of 
the Medes, and all the kings of the north far and near, one 
with another, and all the kingdoms of the world which 
are upon the face of the earth ; and the king of She- 
shach shall drink after them. Therefore thou shalt say 
unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Is- 
rael, Drink ye and be drunken, and spue, and fail and rise 
no more, because of the sword which I will send among 
you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at 
thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus 

U 



234 



DESTRUCTION OP 



[Sect. XXVI. 



saith the Lord of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink. For lo ! 
I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my 
name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not 
be unpunished ; for I will call for a sword upon all the 
inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. There- 
fore prophesy thou against them all these words, and 
say unto them, the Lord shall roar from on high, and 
utter His voice from his holy habitation ; He shall mightily 
roar upon his habitation ; He shall give a shout as they 
that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the 
earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth ; 
for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations ; He iviil 
plead with all flesh, He will give them that are wicked to 
the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 
Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a 
great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the 
earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that da?/ 
from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the 
earth : they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor 
buried ; they shall be dung upon the ground. . . .And the 
peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce 
anger of the Lord. He has forsaken his covert as the 
lion ; for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of 
the oppressor, and because of His fierce anger/' Jer. xxv. 
15—38. 

We do not quote these verses on account merely of the 
awfully general and alarming denunciations of divine wrath 
which they contain, but also to notice the minute specifi- 
cation and regular succession in which these denunciations 
are presented unto us. In endeavouring to direct attention 
more particularly to them, we would desire to state our 
views with diffidence, and shall produce the evidence on 
which they are founded. The difficulties usually connected 
with endeavours to give an exposition of minute predictions 
before their fulfilment, are in this instance increased by 
various circumstances ; while the novelty of the view about 
to be offered demands a full statement of the grounds on 
which the applications are made. But, with even a pro- 
bability of the following interpretation being correct, the 
importance of such a prediction may be regarded as suf- 
ficient apology for the attempt. In it, then, it may be ob- 
served, there appears a regular succession in the order in 



Sect, XXVI.] ANTICHRISTIAN NATIONS. 



235 



which the various nations specified are made to drink of 
this cup of divine fury. This may be inferred, not only 
from the order in which they stand, but from the circum- 
stance of the same nations being: made to drink twice, as 
in the case of Edom, under its own name in the 21st verse, 
and under that of Dedan, one of its provinces, in the 23d. 
There appears, also, to be a repetition of judgments on Is- 
rael, under the veiled but significant names of Buz (de- 
spised or plundered,) and Zimri (my field or my vine,) ver. 
23 — 25. The idea of order appears also to derive counte- 
nance from the prophet's beginning with Jerusalem and 
Judah, at a period antecedent to the giving of the prophecy, 
for the effects are noticed as having been already visible, 
" as it is this day." ver, 18. It is also implied in the close 
of the series, "And the king of Sheshach shall drink 
after them!' ver. 24, This " Sheshach " appears to be 
no other than the mystic Babylon. There is only another 
instance in the prophecies in which the name occurs ; and, 
as if to point us, to the meaning of this passage, it is in this 
connection: "How»is Sheshach taken, and how is the praise 
of the whole earth surprised ! How is Babylon become an 
astonishment among the nations !" Jer. li. 41. It is true 
indeed that these words seem to refer immediately to the 
ancient literal Babylon. But there are circumstances in 
the prediction which, while they appear inapplicable to 
the literal Babylon, correspond precisely with the prophe- 
cies of the apostle John concerning the mystic Babylon. 
Thus in the 25th verse of this 51st chapter it is said, " Be- 
hold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the 
Lord, which destroy est all the earth ; and I will stretch out 
mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, 
and will make thee a burnt mountain." Of mystic Bab- 
ylon it is said in the Apocalypse, ie And the second angel 
sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with 
fire was cast into the sea! 1 Rev. viii. 8, Again the Lord 
says of this Babylon by the prophet, (ver. 45) "My 
'people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every 
man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord." And 
of the mystic Babylon, the apostle says, " And I heard an- 
other voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, mypeofle, 
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive 
not of her plagues." Rev. xviii. 4. In the 7th verse, it is 



236 



DESTRUCTION OF [Sect. XXVI. 



said by the prophet, that Babylon " hath been a golden cup 
in the Lord's hand that made all the earth drunken ; the 
nations have drunken of her wine ; therefore the nations 
are mad." So the apostle was told by the angel, that 
" the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk 
with the wine of her fornication." Rev. xvii. 2. Of her 
destruction the prophet says, u Thus shall Babylon sink, 
and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her 
. .Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed/' Jer. li. 
64, 8. And the apostle says, " a mighty angel took up a 
stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, 
Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown 
down, and shall be found no more at all." Rev. xvii. 21. 
To these allusions others might be added, from which it 
may be inferred that the prophet predicts not merely the 
fate of the ancient Babylon, but also that of the mystic 
Babylon, thus identified by these descriptions from the 
Apocalypse. 

We return, therefore, to the prediction of God's deso- • 
lating judgments upon " all the kingdoms of the world 
which are upon the face of the earth," (Jer. xxv. 26,) and 
observe, that as " the King of Sheshach [or Babylon] shall 
drink after them," this appears to be the same mystic 
Babylon or Antichrist. The ancient city having been made 
a desolation before the nations previously specified, we can- 
not suppose that it is of it the prophet here speaks as drink- 
ing " after them." This opinion also derives countenance 
from the fact, that upon those nations standing first in the 
list, overwhelming judgments have been inflicted, so far as 
we can judge, in the precise order of arrangement in which 
their names occur. 

The prophecy was given in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, 
(ver. I,) and Jerusalem and Judah were made to drink first, 
(ver. 18,) in the year 606 before Christ. It was not 
however, till J 8 years after, during the reign of Zedekiah, 
(588 before Christ,) that the city and the temple were 
burnt to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar. But the words, 
" as it is this day," may perhaps have been inserted when 
the prophecies were collected and arranged at a subsequent 
period, to note the commencement of the fulfilment of this 
series of predictions. The next, in point of order in the 
prophecy, are " Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants 



Sect. XXVI.] ANTIC HRISTIAN NATIONS. 



237 



and his princes, and all his people/' ver. 19. And 14 years 
after the destruction of Jerusalem, (574 before Christ,) the 
disasters of Pharaoh-hophra, or Apries, commenced. Two 
years after, Egypt was invaded and subdued by Nebu- 
chadnezzar during a rebellion of the Egyptians. It next 
came under the Persian yoke, and after struggling 64 
years to free themselves from it, Egypt was terribly ravag- 
ed and reduced. Thirty years before Christ, it became a 
province of the Roman empire, and has ever since been in 
subjection to various oppressors. It is not very obvious 
who are meant by " the mingled people " who come next 
in order ; (ver. 20,) but if by " the land of Uz," which 
follows, we understand the country about Damascus, so 
called by the Hebrews, we shall still find the same corres- 
pondence between the order of this prediction of desolat- 
ing judgments and the events recorded in History. Three 
hundred and thirty-seven years before Christ, Damascus 
having recovered from the effects of the pillage it suffered 
at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and being in a flourishing 
state, was betrayed to the troops of Alexander. Two hun- 
dred and sixty-eight years after, it was seized by the 
Romans. About the year of our Lord 620, Chosroes, 
king of Persia, took it from the Romans, by whom it was 
quickly retaken. In a few years after, it was taken by the 
Saracens, and has since been often a scene of ravage and of 
blood, and is at present in a state of wretchedness, which 
forms a sad contrast to its magnificent ruins. 

The next, in the prophetic arrangement, are " all the 
kings of the land of the Philistines, and [its cities] Ashkelon 
and Azzah [Gaza,] and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod," 
now Ezdoud. ver. 20. The land of the Philistines bor- 
ders on the west and south-west of J udea. Long after the 
commencement of the Christian era, it possessed a very nu- 
merous population and strongly fortified cities. It has, 
however, experienced a sad reverse, having drunk in its 
turn of the wine-cup of the fury of the Lord. "Ashkelon 
was one of the proudest satrapies of the lords of the Phil- 
istines ; now there is not an inhabitant within its walls ; 
and the prophecy of Zechariah is fulfilled : The king shall 
perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. 
When the prophecy was uttered, both cities were in an 
equally flourishing condition ; and nothing but the prescience 

u 3 



238 



DESTRUCTION OF 



[Sect. XXVI. 



of Heaven could pronounce on which of the two, and in 
what manner, the vial of its wrath should be poured out. 
Gaza is truly without a king. The lofty towers of Ashke- 
lon lie scattered on the ground, and the ruins within its 
walls do not shelter a human being." 

"Edoni, and Moab, and the children of A mm on," are 
next made to drink of the cup of God's fury, (ver. 21,) 
and this seems also to correspond with the relative order 
recorded in history. The Edomites, or Idumeans, were 
both an opulent and a powerful people. During the de- 
cline of the kingdom of Judah, and for many years previ- 
ous to its extinction, they encroached upon the territories 
of the Jews, and extended their dominion over the south- 
western part of Judea. Since the commencement of the 
Christian era, they had kings reigning at Petra, which was 
a place of great strength in the time of the Romans. Of 
the country of Moab and Amnion, Gibbon says, when 
first invaded by the Saracens it " was enriched by the vari- 
ous benefits of trade, was covered with a line of forts, and 
possessed some strong and populous cities." But desola- 
tion has since completely overtaken them, and nothing is 
left but the remains of former prosperity. Moab has often 
been a field of contest between the Arabs and the Turks. 
The former have retained possession of it, but both have 
contributed to its utter devastation as foretold by the prophet. 

The denunciations of God's wrath having thus taken 
fearful effect upon these countries and cities, " to make 
them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse, 
as it is this day," we proceed to inquire, Who are to be under- 
stood by "all the kings of Tyrus," introduced (ver. 22) 
as drinking next of this cup of divine wrath ? These we 
apprehend, include not merely the ancient city of Tyre 
with its dependencies, but also, under a concealed name, a 
powerful city of modern times. The prophets speak much 
concerning a Tyrus of which there is reason to think an- 
cient Tyre was but a type, and with the character and 
description of which it did not in various particulars corres- 
pond. The wisdom of the Spirit of Prophecy has been 
displayed, in rendering predictions of a certain description 
more or less obvious, according as the agents to be em- 
ployed in their fulfilment have more or less opportunity of 
knowing the parts to which they are assigned, or of being 



Sect. XXVI.] ANTIC HRISTIAX NATIONS. 



239 



influenced by them. Cyrus the Persian, ignorant of the 
revealed will of God, and having no access unto it, was 
called by name to the overthrow of ancient Babylon, while 
the apostate Romish church, having the Scriptures in her 
hands, is denounced by both Old and New Testament 
prophets under the concealed name of Babylon. In pre- 
dictions of judgments yet unfulfilled, Arabia, and other na- 
tions destitute of revelation, are named without covert, 
whiie a veil seems thrown over similar predictions respect- 
ing God's ancient people, who have access to the word of 
God and who respect its revelations. In like manner, had 
the name of Constantinople been mentioned expressly in 
Scripture Prophecy as to be certainly destroyed at a partic- 
ular time, it must have been known over Europe, whose 
w^hole political and commercial relations w r ould thus have 
been prematurely affected. If, then, predictions of such a 
nature be at all given with respect to nations familiar with 
the Scriptures, we might expect some expedient to be 
adopted in order to prevent their being so obvious as to be 
acted upon, w T hile yet marks should be given sufficiently 
distinct to enable their being recognized. This, w T e appre- 
hend, is just what has b^n done in the predictions to which 
we now call attention. 

Commentators have generally supposed all the prophe- 
cies with respect to the fate of Tyrus as completely ful- 
filled in the ancient Tyre. But there are many circum- 
stances which constrain us to consider this opinion as er- 
roneous. Besides the fact of their utter failure in proving 
the correspondence of some of these predictions with the 
recorded history of either of the cities of that name, there 
are other predictions which are obviously at variance with 
it, but which seem applicable in all respects to Constan- 
tinople. In adverting to a few of these, w T e do not now stop 
to notice the predictions which are really applicable to the 
ancient Tyre, and which have indeed been fulfilled to the 
very letter. This circumstance, however, warrants the 
expectation that predictions yet unfulfilled will have their 
accomplishment literally, and encourage us in the duty of 
endeavouring to ascertain to whom they refer. 

The prophet Ezekiel is called to take up a lamentation, 
" and say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the 
entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for 



240 



DESTRUCTION OF 



[Sect. XXVI. 



many isles, Thus saith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou hast 
said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders [or ' boundaries'] 
are in the midst of the seas" or " between the seas." Ezek. 
xxvii. 2 — 4. Here are two circumstances, with respect to 
situation, which are equally applicable to Constantinople, 
and inapplicable to ancient Tyre, (the present Soor.) 
Neither Tyre on the continent, nor Tyre on the island, 
were at the entry to any sea. But this describes, exactly, 
the situation of Constantinople, which stands just at the 
entrance to the Mediterranean, sometimes called in Scrip- 
ture "the sea" by way of eminence. Standing between 
the Black Sea and the Archipelago, its boundaries are also 
truly in the midst of, (or between) the seas. This, how- 
ever, seems also an inappropriate description of the situation 
of both the ancient cities. The commentators, indeed, 
generally read the words, "in the heart of the seas," and 
thus apply it to the island. But still it was "in the heart" 
not of " the seas" but of the sea. 

Against the prince of this Tyrus it is charged that he 
aspires to divine honours : "Son of man, say unto the 
prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God, Because thine 
heart is lifted up, and thou hast j^id, I am a god, I sit in 
the seat of God, in the midst of the seas, yet thou art a 
man and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart 
of God. .Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because 
thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God, Behold, 
therefore, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of 
the nations. . . .Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth 
thee, / am God ? But thou shalt be a man and no god in 
the hand of him that slayeth thee." Ezek. xxvii. 1 — 9. 
How far this character of blasphemous arrogance could 
apply to the governors of Tyre, it is not, in the silence of 
history, for us to determine. But that it truly characterizes 
the Sultan of "the Sublime Porte," who styles himself 
" Brother of the Sun and Moon, — God upon Earth — Sha- 
dow of God — and Light of all the princes of the earth," 
is sufficiently known. 

Another characteristic of this Tyrus seems equally inap- 
plicable to ancient Tyre and descriptive of Ottoman con- 
quests. Says the Lord by the prophet, (Ezek. xxviii. 13,) 
•'Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of the Lord," and 
what is supposed to have been the paradise of God, at the 



Sect. XXVL] ANTICHRISTIAN NATIONS. 



241 



junction of the Euphrates and Hiddekel, or Tigris, is in 
the Turkish dominions. " Thou art the anointed cherub 
that covereth," continues the prophet of God, "and I have 
set thee so ; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God ; 
thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones 
of fire. . . . / will cast thee as profane out of the mountain 
of God ; and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from 
the midst of the stones of fire." Ezek. xxviii. 14 — 16. 
Long has the cruel and oppressive Turk kept possession of 
Mount Zion, God's holy mountain, — and the site of Jeho- 
vah's temple is still defiled by a Moslem mosque, — but 
when did Tyre of old obtain possession of the mountain of 
God? 

Tyrus is " a merchant of the people for many isles." 
Ezek. xxvii. 3. " When thy wares went forth out of the 
seas, thou filledst many people ; thou didst enrich the kings 
of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy 
merchandize." Ezek. xxviii. 33. This is no doubt per- 
fectly applicable to ancient Tyre, but it is equally so to 
Constantinople, while the nations represented as trafficking 
with her, (Ezek, xxvii. 5 — 25,) are, so far as we can dis- 
cover, the very nations which now occupy the markets of 
the Porte in the various commodities specified. 

It is not designed to make any particular examination 
of the prophecies concerning the destruction of this Tyrus, 
or the consequences flowing from it. One prediction only 
we now quote for the illustration of another. " Thou hast 
defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities," 
says the Lord by His prophet Ezekiel, " by the iniquity 
of thy traffic ; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the 
midst of thee, it shall devour thee ; and J will bring thee 
to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that be- 
hold thee." Ezek. xxviii. 18. This serves to illustrate 
what is farther said to the prophet concerning the destruc- 
tion of Tyrus : " Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of 
Babylon, caused his army to serve a great service against 
Tyrus ; every head was made bald and every shoulder 
was peeled ; yet had he no wages nor his army for Tyrus, 
for the service that he had served against it; therefore thus 
'saith the Lord God, Behold I will give the land of Egypt 
unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take 
her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey, and 



242 



DESTRUCTION OF [Sect. XXVI. 



it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the 
land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against 
it, [Tyrus,] because they wrought for me, saith the Lord 
God. In that day will I cause the horn of the house of 
Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee [Ezekiel] the 
opening of the mouth in the midst of them; [by their being 
made to understand his prophecies,] and they shall know 
that I am the Lord." Ezek. xxix. 18 — 21. From the 
relation in which this prediction of the destruction of Tyrus 
and subsequent conquest of Egypt stands to the conversion 
and restoration of Israel, it must be regarded as still un- 
fulfilled. And as the indignation of God passes from this 
Tyrus to Egypt, light is thus thrown upon the next in 
order of Jeremiah's series of desolating judgments. After 
the kings of Tyrus had been made to drink of the wine- 
cup of God's fury, it was next presented to " all the kings 
of Zidon." (Jer. xxv. 22.) If, then, Egypt be given into 
the hand of the conqueror of Constantinople as a reward 
for its destruction, we are led to the conclusion that Zidon 
is a concealed name for Egypt, since Jeremiah represents 
it as next to Tyrus in drinking of the cup of divine wrath. 
This opinion derives support from the fact of the destruction 
of Tyrus and Zidon being the final overthrow of Israel's ene- 
mies. Having given the prediction of the burning of Tyrus 
already referred to. the prophet proceeds : " Thus saith 
the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon, and 
I will be glorified in the midst of thee. . . .For I will send 
into her pestilence; and blood into her streets; and the 
wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword 
upon every side, and they shall know that I am the Lord, 
[and there are other predictions of a precisely similar nature 
concerning Egypt by name.] And there shall be no more 
a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving 
thorn of all that are round about the?n, that despised 
them ; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. . . . 
Then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to 
my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, 
and shall build houses and plant vineyards." Ezek. xxviii. 
19 — 26. From this passage it appears obvious, that it is 
not of the ancient cities of Tyre and Zidon the prophet 
here speaks, but of powers hostile to the weal of Israel up 
to the period of their restoration. How truly the Ottoman 



Sect. XXVI.] ANTICHRISTTAN NATIONS. 



243 



power has been a pricking brier and grieving thorn to the 
house of Israel is too well known ; and it is at the time of 
its overthrow that their Restoration was predicted to Dan- 
iel, (xi. 45, xii. 1.) But how can this prediction at all 
apply to the period of the destruction of the ancient cities? 
According to the prophecy, (Ezek. xxvi. 5,) Tyre has 
literally become " a place for the spreading of nets in the 
midst of the sea/' and the once-famous Zidon has Jong ago 
dwindled into a diminutive town, (the present Saida,) with- 
out power, and destitute of influence in the councils of the 
nations. The pricking brier is still left, however, to pain 
the house of Israel, so that the time of the prophecy can- 
not have arrived. So also are Tyre and Zidon introduced 
in connection with the valley of Jehoshaphat in the day 
of decision, which commentators are agreed is the same 
with the battle or war of Armageddon, under the outpour- 
ing of the seventh vial: (Rev. xvi. 14 — 16.) " For behold 
in those days, and in that time, ivhen I shall bring again 
the captivity of Juclah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all 
nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehos- 
haphat, and will plead with them there for my people and 
for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the 
nations and parted my land. . - .Yea, and what have ye to 
do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the coasts of Pal- 
estine ? will ye render me a recompense, and if ye recom- 
pense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recom- 
pense upon your own head/' Joel iii. 1 — 4. It is also 
remarkable, that, while the war of Armageddon is repre- 
sented under the outpouring of the seventh vial, the judg- 
ments of the sixth vial are poured " upon the great river 
Euphrates ;" (Rev. xvi. 12,) which, it is generally ad- 
mitted, symbolizes the Ottoman empire. The connection 
therefore of Tyre and Zidon with the confederation of na- 
tions, when " the Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter 
His voice from Jerusalem," (Joel iii. 16,) may be regarded 
as proof that it is not the ancient Tyre and Zidon of which 
the prophet speaks : the former place being already so des- 
olated as only to afford miserable shelter to a few fisher- 
men, and the latter incapable of any important enterprize. 

If this application of these numerous predictions con- 
cerning Tyrus and Zidon be correct, there is reason to fear 
we have yet a still deeper interest in Jeremiah's series of 



244 



DESTRUCTION OF [Sect. XXVT. 



desolating judgments ; for, after Zidon, the next in point 
of order who are made to drink of the wine-cup of the fury 
of the Lord, are " the kings of the isles which are beyond 
the sea." Jer. xxv. 22. These, we apprehend, are the 
British Isles ; their situation being beyond the Mediterran- 
ean, called by way of eminence "the sea," as already ob- 
served. Instead, therefore, of proceeding to the examina- 
tion of the remainder of this important prediction, we con- 
fine ourselves to the illustration of this last-quoted clause. 
We observe, then, that prophecies concerning this country 
appear also to be given under the name " Tarshish." 
Among the nations trading with Tyrus at the time of its 
destruction, it is said, " Tarshish was thy merchant by 
reason of the multitude of all kind of riches: with silver, 
iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs." Ezek. xxvii. 
13. Not only do these correspond with British exports to 
Constantinople, but other predictions concerning Tarshish 
seem equally applicable to England, probably referred to 
under this name as that of the capital. Tarshish is repre- 
sented as a maritime place, and " the islands beyond the 
sea" are, in the above prophecy of Jeremiah, made to 
drink of the cup of God's fury after Tyrus and Zidon : so 
Isaiah calls on Tarshish to lamentation for the destruction 
of the former : " The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships 
of Tarshish, for it [Tyre] is laid waste, so that there is no 
house, no entering in." Is. xxiii. 1. And when there ap- 
peared danger of the utter overthrow of Turkey by the 
Russian arms during the past campaigns, our public jour- 
nals commenced their howlings, as if in anticipation. It 
is said by the prophet Ezekiel, at the destruction of Tyrus, 
" all the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, 
and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled 
in their countenance." Ezek. xxvii. 35. It were easy to 
specify reasons why the overthrow of the Ottoman empire 
will occasion our regret and be regarded with fear. One 
of these will doubtless be, that " the ships of Tarshish did 
sing of thee [Tyrus] /;/ thy markets!' Ezek. xxvii. 25. 
Our commercial relations with Turkey have contributed 
much to the support of Mahometan despotism and delusion. 
But the precedence, in the honourable work of assist- 
ing Israel in returning to their land, is distinctly given to 
Tarshish : " Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the 



Sect. XXVI.] ANTIC HRISTIAN NATIONS. 



245 



ships of Tarshish first, to bring [to Zion] thy sons from 
far, their silver and their gold with them/' Is. Ix. 9. 

This Tarshish must therefore be a maritime place of 
modern times, — and to whom are all the predictions con- 
cerning it so applicable as to Britain ? It is also predicted 
of the merchants of Tarshish, and others, that they shall 
interfere in behalf of Israel when Gog shall " think an evil 
thought" concerning them after their restoration. " Sheba 
and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the 
young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou cotne 
to take a spoil ? Hast thou gathered thy company to take 
a prey ? To carry away silver and gold, to take away 
cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" Ezek. xxxviii, 13, 
The exertions already made in this country, in behalf of 
the Jews, give probability to the view of our ships being 
Jirst employed for assisting them in their return ; thus also 
countenancing the idea that this modern Tarshish repre- 
sents the British nation. And if so, we have much reason 
to fear our being overtaken by severe judgments after the 
destruction of Constantinople. They are thus connected 
by the prophet Isaiah : " Who," he asks, " hath taken 
this counsel against Tyre the crowning city, whose mer- 
chants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of 
the earth ? The Lord of hosts hath purposed it to stain the 
pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the hon- 
ourable of the earth. Pass through thy land as a river, O 
daughter of Tarshish; there is no more strength. . 
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for your strength is laid 
waste!' Is. xxiii. 8, 9, 10, 14. It is in our ships our great 
strength lies, and by the destruction of which we should 
be most affected. If even these only were " laid waste," 
it might indeed be said of our land, " there is no more 
strength." Of the same period the prophet Isaiah says, 
" The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one 
that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted 
up, and he shall be brought low.... And upon all the 
ships of Tarshish" Is. ii. 12, 16. The destruction of the 
ships of Tarshish is celebrated in Zion's songs among other 
of God's marvellous acts at the restoration of Israel : " Thou 
breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind!' Ps. 
xlvii. 7. From this it seems probable that the same power 
which shall destroy Constantinople shall also be employed, 



DESTRUCTION' OF 



[Sect. XXVI. 



in the hand of God, for laying waste the strength of Bri- 
tain. For it is said of modern Tyrus, " Thy rowers [in 
the vessel of state] have brought thee into great waters ; 
the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas." 
Ezek. xxvii. 26. While, therefore, we look for the fulfil- 
ment of the predictions concerning the destruction of Tyrus 
in the issue of the present contest between Russia and Tur- 
key; as a nation, have we no reason to fear the infliction 
of judgments through the same instrumentality ? Daniel, in 
predicting the final overthrow of the Ottoman power, (this 
application being generally admitted, we stop not to notice 
the grounds on which it is made,) foretold that " tidings 
out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him!' 
Dan. xi. 44. And how accurately does this describe the 
late movements of Russia's conquering arms ? Europe has 
witnessed the minute and full accomplishment of the pre- 
diction in the events of the two past campaigns. The " tid- 
ings" of success which attended the Autocrat's arms both in 
Asiatic Turkey on " the east," and in European Turkey 
on the norths have evidently indeed troubled the suc- 
cessor of the Great Impostor. x\nd if so, we may antici- 
pate an early accomplishment of the remainder of the pre- 
diction : " Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to 
destroy and utterly to make away many. And he shall 
plant the tabernacles of his palaces [or camps] between the 
seas, in the glorious [or goodly] holy mountain, yet he shall 
come to his end, and none shall help hi?n." This is sup- 
posed, with great probability, by the Rev. Mr. Keith, to be 
Monte Santo, (literally, " the Holy Mountain") Mount 
Athos, in Macedonia. The last clause seems to intimate that 
there is something remarkable in the circumstance that " none 
shall help him." x\nd is it not a singular fact, that while 
all Europe seems to regard the preservation of the Turkish 
dynasty as the great key-stone on which the existence of 
the whole system depends, and while all are deeply con- 
cerned for its continuance, not one of them took a single 
step directly to arrest the progress of Russia ? Nor was 
this from any unwillingness to extend their aid to the Mus- 
sulmans. There was displayed a general fear for their 
fate, and a general wish was expressed for their success. 
In the favourable reports which were continually fabri- 
cated, in the arguments which were used, and in the influ- 



Sect. XXVI.] 



ANTIC HR1STIAN NATIONS. 



247 



ence which was exercised in behalf of the Sultan, we had 
evidence sufficient of their disposition to afford him " help.'' 
But it is when circumstances thus seem to conspire to thwart 
the purposes of Jehovah, that His power and his faithful- 
ness are made conspicuously to appear in their accomplish- 
ment. And it will be when, notwithstanding of European 
intrigue and European diplomacy, the power of the last 
successor of the false prophet shall be utterly destroyed, 
that the peculiar force and significancy of the divine pre- 
diction will appear, " Yet he shall come to his end, and 
none shall help him." By whatever crooked policy we 
may seek to prop the falling fortunes of Mahmoud, Islamic 
sway is doomed to destruction, and no earthly power shall 
prevail for its support. Against the last successor of the 
Eastern Impostor, Heaven's decree has gone forth, and if 
the time have now arrived, he shall indeed " come to his 
end, and none shall help him."* 

How near we may be to very severe national sufferings 
it is impossible to say, or whether these may at all precede 
the coming of Christ, we pretend not to determine. That 
we form one of the ten kings, or kingdoms, which make war 
with the Lamb, there seems however little reason to quesr 
tion. That will be a day of sad retribution, for "the Lamb 
shall overcome them," when He ''shall be revealed from 
heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking ven- 
geance" on His enemies. Rev. xvii. 14. 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. 
If " unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much 
required," Britain has reason to dread the full weight of 
divine indignation. Great indeed have been her privileges, 
but manifold are the grounds of God's controversy with her. 
Highly honoured have been her saints in being made use- 
ful instruments in preaching the gospel as a witness unto 

* There may be some who suppose that the present suspension 
of hostilities (for we regard it as nothing more) has falsified the 
views stated above. Of such we would request the exercise of a little 
patience before coming to a final decision. The prophecy embraces a 
very lengthened period, and it would be unwise to expect an instan- 
taneous evolution of all its events. We must not suppose that the 
sixth vial has been wholly poured out. Its contents will continue to 
flow until the waters of the Euphrates be dried up, and the way of the 
kings from the east is prepared. The view given above of the 
means and mode of the overthrow of the Ottoman power is wholly 
inferential, and presented only as such. Its accuracy is as yet un- 
determiaed, 

x2 



248 



DESTRUCTION OF 



[Sect. XXVI. 



all nations, but awfully aggravated has been the criminality 
of those who, amid the light which shone around them, 
have refused to avail themselves of its splendour. x\nd, oh ! 
what a load of guilt, national and individual, has been thus 
contracted ! On what public grounds, let us ask, can we 
hope that the cup of God's fury shall not be put into our 
hand when " all the kingdoms of the world, which are 
upon the face of the earth," shall be made to drink ? (Jer. 
xxv. 26.) " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, ye shall cer- 
tainly drink." And Jehovah's justice will be unimpeach- 
able in the execution of his righteous indignation upon our 
guilty land. Our contempt of the authority of God, in 
neglecting the qualifications required by His word, of those 
admitted to the administration of matters of state, testifies 
against us; — the indifference of our rulers to the regulation 
of their decisions in accordance with the requirements and 
precepts contained in Scripture, and in subserviency to the 
glory of God, testifies against us ; — the deepening groans of 
our oppressed country, and the state of her enslaved and 
degraded Colonial population, whose unheeded cries have 
" entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth," testify 
against us; — the unrepented blood of her martyred heroes, 
still calling to heaven for retribution, testifies against us; — 
the thousands butchered for the mere gratification of her 
ambition, testify against us; — the millions of immortal souls 
which have gone down to the pit by the unfaithfulness of 
watchmen, preferred to cures for political purposes, testify 
against us; — our heaven- daring usurpation of the Redeem- 
er's blood-bought and inalienable prerogative of headship to 
His church testifies against us; — the Romish Antichrist her- 
self, for whose re-establishment in other lands were lavished 
British blood and British treasure, testifies against us; — 
and the present exertions, at home, for giving power to the 
supporters of her soul-destroying delusions, testify against 
us. Yes, Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, testifies against 
a land which early among the nations escaped from her 
pollutions and her thraldom, and which early testified 
against her domination and blasphemous usurpations ! 
Where is now the zeal which once characterized our op- 
position to her who hath dyed her raiment in the blood of 
God's dear saints? Where the purity from her contamina- 
tions by which we were distinguished among the nations ? 



SeC^ XXVI.] ANTICHRISTlAN NATIONS. 



249 



Though unchanged in her character, and the word of God 
gives no hope of her future improvement, but of ultimate 
and awful destruction— though still claiming infallibility, 
and thus virtually justifying the foulest deeds she has ever 
perpetrated — though unrepenting of her darkest doings, and 
still willing to re-act her bloody part when possessed of that 
power by the deprivation of which alone she has been 
restrained — though both the word of God and the welfare 
of men demand entire separation from her — though all his- 
tory of the past, and experience of the present, equally for- 
bid coalition with a system directly opposed to the will and 
glory of God, and essentially inimical to the temporal and 
spiritual well-being of man — with every proper motive for- 
bidding alliance with the Abomination of the earth, Britain, 
by whom she was formerly abhorred, having again drunk 
of the cup of her fornication, has once more become enam- 
oured of her; and a majority of our legislators seem willing 
to admit into the councils of the nation those they are sworn 
to exclude. It is truly alarming to witness the exertions 
made for extending the power of the See of Rome. Re- 
gardless of Revelation when its dictates seem opposed to 
human views of expediency, principles are assumed wholly 
at variance with the Word of God, and favour is shown to 
that system which Jehovah- Jesus has denounced, and which 
He will assuredly " destroy with the brightness of His 
coming." Without, indeed, availing ourselves of the aid of 
revelation — whose direction no nation favoured with its 
light may set aside with impunity — reason itself suggests 
the impropriety of intrusting those with power whose prin- 
ciples necessarily involve its abuse. No authoritative re- 
nunciation of infallibility has been made — no disapproba- 
tion of former measures is expressed, — and no private assur- 
ance can ever form a sufficient guarantee against similar 
enormities for the future. 

There is, however, a singular infatuation displayed on 
the part of some who advocate their claims. In pleading 
for Popery, there are Protestants who assume in its favour 
what Papists themselves do not admit. Because in this 
country, it has been under restraint, they imagine the sys- 
tem to be greatly improved. Its fundamental principles, 
however, render improvement impossible. Reformation, 
indeed, is not even pretended by its votaries, however its 

x3 



250 



DESTRUCTION OF 



[Sect. XXVI. 



abettors may wish this to be supposed. The system is 
corrupt to the very core, and the Scriptures hold out no 
prospect but that of its certain destruction, together with 
those in league for its support. Yet are there many who 
still clamour for concession to those who only wait for the 
opportunity to attempt our utter overthrow. Regarding 
this system as hostile to civil as well as to religious liberty, 
we feel surprised that the might and zeal of even unsanc- 
tified genius should be exerted for its extension. But it is 
still more to be lamented that Protestants who respect the 
law of God should ever be found so unmindful of that 
(i sure word of Prophecy" He has given, which ought to 
be prized as " a light that shineth in a dark place." Let 
them there read the character of the M other of Harlots, 
the nature of her crimes, and the denunciations of her ulti- 
mate punishment. Yet, with Revelation in our hands, 
and with its prophecies read and expounded, Britain has 
not kept herself free of the guilt of giving her power unto 
the beast. For twenty-Jive years did she fight the battles 
of Antichrist, until, with the aid of other Powers, she suc- 
ceeded, in opposition to the wishes of the people, in re- 
establishing upon the throne of France the bigotted and 
bloody house of Bourbon — the zealous adherents of the 
Man of Sin. Thus Britain is not merely chargeable with 
having herself contributed to the support of that apostate 
power, but of having then wielded the energies of Europe 
in her behalf. And when we are so often assured of .the 
altered character of Popery, and while the Premier, at 
this moment* exerting himself to obtain for it power in 
our land, can see no ground for apprehension, we would 
remember their last massacre of our Protestant brethren in 
the South of France, while himself present in that country, 
and with the power of Europe under his control, without 
his making a single movement for their protection. With 
whatever complacency we may now regard the devoted 

* Written while what has been styled the Catholic Relief Bill was 
under the consideration of Parliament, and ere the too well-grounded 
apprehensions of its being passed into a law had yet been realized. 
We have now to lament over the completed apostasy, and to wonder 
at the complacency with which its abettors look back to their suc- 
cess, as if it were matter of triumph to extend the power of a system 
opposed to Heaven's will, and by Heaven devoted to destruction. 



Sect. XXVI.] 



ANTIC HRISTI AN NATIONS. 



251 



system, it is as hostile as ever to the civil and religious 
rights of men, and still remains under the curse of God. 
The palpable change which has taken place is not in it but 
in us, and is only another reason to dread the weight of 
God's avenging justice. The rn^re intimate our connec- 
tion with the See of Rome — and there is reason to fear 
our apostasy will be yet more obvious — the deeper must 
we drink of that cup of wrath which shall be filled to the. 
brim, and the contents of which shall be without mixture. 
But it is not merely on account of sins in the national 
administration, that the justice of God will be vindicated 
in the infliction of His righteous judgments. The state of 
society in general is alarming in the extreme. Disease of 
a deep and deadly nature has overspread the land. Infi- 
delity has made fearful progress in the world. In the 
church, the power of religion has sadly declined, and ini- 
quity seems coming in like a flood. To what an alarming 
height has drunkenness increased, both in the world and 
in the church! Impurity has greatly gained ground. The 
sanctity of the Sabbath is more grossly profaned and its 
ordinances more lightly prized. There is now little of 
that thoroughly devotional spirit which so eminently char- 
acterized our holy men of old. Instead of the stern up- 
rightness of decided religion, the Church is pervaded by a 
spirit of temporizing, which would sacrifice all proper prin- 
ciple to the views and wishes of worldly men. Formerly, 
Christians dreaded conformity to the world as a certam 
symptom that their hearts were not right with God. Now, 
every thing which would indicate separation from the 
world must, if possible, be avoided ; and this consumma- 
tion is often obtained at the expense of proper moral prin- 
ciple. But the worst feature, in our case, is the want of 
a due sense of the evil, and of proper feeling with respect 
to our declension. Oh, what an accumulation of guilt, 
of public national transgression, stands in fearful record 
against us ! " Shall I not visit for these things? saith the 
Lord * shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as. 
this." Jer. v, 29. We do not, we dare not, desire the 
evil day, but what ground is there to hope for escape ? 
Instead of expecting any permanent relief from the present 
increasing distress, we fear it is only the commencement 
of overwhelming calamity. Preparation is evidently being 



252 



DESTRUCTION OF 



[Sect. XXVI. 



made for the restoration of Israel by the downfal of the 
Ottoman empire ; and coeval with it is the period of un- 
paralleled distress. It is matter of thankfulness that God, 
for His elect's sake, shall shorten these days of awful 
" tribulation.' ' Still, how long they may continue, before 
the coming of the Lord, or what time may be occupied in 
the work of overwhelming judgment after his return, it is 
impossible to say, The ablest commentators, of opposite 
opinions with respect to Christ's premillennial advent, seem 
to agree in believing that the commencement of general 
happiness, after the utter overthrow of all Christ's enemies, 
will take place about the year 1867. Were their opinion 
correct, with respect to the nature of the blessing pronounced 
(Dan xii. 12.) on him " that waiteth and cometh to the 
1335 days," from the rise of Antichrist (of which, however, 
we have some doubt,) it would still give us no certain infor- 
mation respecting the precise period of Christ's return, which 
must be some time before this happy era, as He must first 
" be revealed in flaming fire, taking vengeance" on His ene- 
mies. But at his coming, believers shall be removed from 
all subsequent troubles, being caught up to meet Him. " I 
tell you," said the Saviour, " in that night there shall be 
two in one bed ; the one shall be taken and the other shall 
be left." Luke xvii. 34. In the hope of being fellow-heirs of 
this glory and blessedness, " the Lord direct your hearts 
into the love of God and. the patient waiting for Christ." 
2 Thess. hi. 5. " Take ye heed, watch and pray; for ye 
know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a 
man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave au- 
thority to his servants, and to every man his work, and 
commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore ; for 
ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even 
or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning; 
lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I 
say unto you, I say unto all, Watch." Mark xiii. 33 — 37. 
" Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 
and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, 
when he will return from the wedding ; that when he com- 
eth and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh 
shall find watching." Luke xii. 35 — 37. " Take heed to 
yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged 



SecIv. XXVL] ANTICHRlSTtAN NATIONS. 



253 



with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and 
so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall 
it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole 
earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always that ye may 
be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall 
come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." Luke 
xxi. 34 — 36. " For yourselves know perfectly, that the 
day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night .... 
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch 
and be sober." 1 Thess. v. 2, 6. " The end of all things 
is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." 

1 Pet. iv. 7. " The Lord is not slack concerning his pro- 
mise, as some men count slackness ; but is long-suffering to 
us- ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all 
should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will 
come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens 
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that 
are therein, shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these 
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye 
to be in all holy conversation and godliness : Looking for 
and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein 
the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the ele- 
ments shall melt with fervent heat ? Nevertheless we, ac- 
cording to his promise, look for new heavens and a new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, 
seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may 
be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." 

2 Pet. hi. 9 — 14. " Having therefore these promises, dearly 
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the 
tlesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 2 
Cor. vii. 1. " For our conversation is in heaven; from 
whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : 
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned 
like unto his glorious body, according to the working where- 
by he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Phil. iii. 
20, 21. " And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; 
and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be 
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 1 Thess. v. 23. " So that ye come behind in no 
gift ; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ : 
who shall also confirm you unta the end, that ye may be 



254 



DESTRUCTION, &c. 



[Sect. XXVI. 



blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. i. 
7, 8. " Keep this commandment without spot, unrebuk- 
able, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ : which 
in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only- 
Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.'' 1 Tim. 
vi. 14, 15. " I charge thee therefore before God, and the 
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the 
dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; 
be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, ex- 
hort, with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time 
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ; but 
after their own lusts shall^they heap to themselves teach- 
ers, having itching ears ; and they shall turn away their 
ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But 
watch thou in all things." 2 Tim. iv. 1 — 5. " Looking 
for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the 
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus ii. 13. 
" Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without 
wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us 
consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good 
works : not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, 
as the manner of some is ; but exhorting one another : and 
so much the more, as ye see the day approachingr . . , 
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great 
recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience^ 
that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive 
the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come 
will come, and will not tarry." Heb. x. 23 — 25, 35 — 37. 
" And now, little children, abide in him ; that when he 
shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed 
before him at his coming." 1 John ii. 28. " He which 
testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly: Amen. 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Rev. xxii. 20. 



THE END. 



ALEX. GARDNER, PRINTER. 



Preparing for Publication, by the same Author, 
LETTERS 

TO AN 

ESTEEMED MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, 
on 

HIS AND OTHER INTERPRETATIONS 

OF 

Cijc J^afotour's Drctucttmis of Return, 

RECORDED 

MATT. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. 

CONTAINING 

A MINUTE EXAMINATION 

OF 

THESE PROPHECIES, 

AND EXHIBITING 

THE EVIDENCE THEY CONTAIN 

THAT 

CHRIST'S COMING IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN 
, is 

PERSONAL, AND NEAR AT HAND. 



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